Mainsail Financial Group LLC Grows Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Mainsail Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,860 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,734 shares during the quarter. Mainsail Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,082,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Focus Financial Network Inc. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 31.7% during the first quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 30,213 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,370,000 after buying an additional 7,265 shares during the last quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 45.4% during the first quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 30,700 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,393,000 after buying an additional 9,583 shares during the last quarter. Martin Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.0% during the first quarter. Martin Capital Partners LLC now owns 56,427 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,560,000 after buying an additional 1,104 shares during the last quarter. Foresight Capital Management Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 5.3% during the first quarter. Foresight Capital Management Advisors Inc. now owns 61,991 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,812,000 after buying an additional 3,134 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bard Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.0% during the first quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. now owns 274,330 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $12,444,000 after buying an additional 5,475 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.88, for a total value of $329,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 19,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $834,071.04. This trade represents a 28.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400 in the last ninety days. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Evercore ISI raised Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.1%

VZ opened at $44.12 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $43.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.30. The company has a market capitalization of $186.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.66, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.59 and a 52 week high of $47.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. Analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.14%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 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).