Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Purchased by Rockline Wealth Management LLC

Rockline Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 6.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 65,507 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,810 shares during the period. Rockline Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,971,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Carret Asset Management LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC now owns 98,840 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,483,000 after buying an additional 655 shares during the last quarter. Evanson Asset Management LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 18.6% during the 1st quarter. Evanson Asset Management LLC now owns 6,171 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $280,000 after buying an additional 968 shares during the last quarter. Advisor Resource Council purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth $1,000,000. Meriwether Wealth & Planning LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth $226,000. Finally, Stableford Capital II LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. Stableford Capital II LLC now owns 28,148 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,240,000 after buying an additional 2,405 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on VZ shares. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.41.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of Verizon Communications 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 10,008 shares in the company, valued at $441,352.80. This trade represents a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE VZ opened at $41.70 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.59 and a one year high of $47.36. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $43.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $175.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.93, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.38.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.14% and a return on equity of 19.66%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.50%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.52%.

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).