Meridian Financial Partners LLC Sells 356 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Meridian Financial Partners LLC lowered its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,517 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 356 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications comprises approximately 0.7% of Meridian Financial Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Meridian Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,384,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at $2,300,846,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth about $1,083,337,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3,601.6% in the 4th quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 8,937,180 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $357,398,000 after purchasing an additional 8,695,736 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 108,694,230 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,346,682,000 after purchasing an additional 7,421,148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 52.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 19,828,378 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $792,937,000 after purchasing an additional 6,846,514 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VZ shares. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $45.00 target price (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.41.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total transaction of $396,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 10,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $441,352.80. This trade represents a 47.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $43.82 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $184.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.58, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.59 and a fifty-two week high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.18%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 64.52%.

About Verizon Communications

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).