Hoey Investments Inc. Has $145,000 Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Hoey Investments Inc. decreased its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 13.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,191 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 500 shares during the period. Hoey Investments Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $145,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 81.0% in the 1st quarter. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. now owns 543 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Mainstream Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Mattson Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 114.6% in the 4th quarter. Mattson Financial Services LLC now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Graney & King LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 19,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $834,071.04. The trade was a 28.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on VZ. Wall Street Zen cut Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Evercore ISI raised Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Wolfe Research downgraded Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, 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. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $42.96 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.59 and a 12-month high of $47.36. The stock has a market cap of $181.11 billion, a PE ratio of 10.38, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38. The business has a 50 day moving average of $43.43 and a 200-day moving average of $42.29. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.52%.

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).