Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Purchased by Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 12.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,413 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,303 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $430,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 21.1% in the 4th quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,037 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $378,000 after purchasing an additional 1,747 shares in the last quarter. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1,773.9% during the 4th quarter. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. now owns 160,333 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,045,000 after acquiring an additional 151,777 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 19.9% during the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 145,184 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,473,000 after purchasing an additional 24,079 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 327,640 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $12,352,000 after buying an additional 3,488 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 81,863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,086,000 after buying an additional 5,775 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.4 %

VZ opened at $39.48 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $40.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market cap of $166.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42. 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 the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.20 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.74%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 99.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on VZ. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 4th. Citigroup raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Company 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).