Brighton Jones LLC Acquires 2,074 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 6.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 33,161 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,074 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,250,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,151,714,000 after buying an additional 4,527,387 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 28,400,326 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $920,455,000 after buying an additional 4,134,150 shares during the period. Comerica Bank bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter worth $133,491,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3,782.4% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,974,813 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $149,850,000 after buying an additional 3,872,434 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 104.0% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 5,302,051 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $171,839,000 after buying an additional 2,703,197 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VZ. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.21.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $39.67 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $40.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.14 and a 12-month high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The company had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.20 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.71%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 99.25%.

Verizon Communications Profile

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of communications, technology, information, and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses, and governmental entities worldwide. It operates in two segments, Verizon Consumer Group (Consumer) and Verizon Business Group (Business).