Baugh & Associates LLC Has $5.53 Million Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Baugh & Associates LLC cut its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 127,484 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 582 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications comprises 2.8% of Baugh & Associates LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Baugh & Associates LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $5,527,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Balefire LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 26.2% in the first quarter. Balefire LLC now owns 14,900 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $676,000 after acquiring an additional 3,094 shares in the last quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at about $249,000. Western Financial Corp CA increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Western Financial Corp CA now owns 18,013 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $817,000 after purchasing an additional 269 shares during the last quarter. Sabal Trust CO raised its position in Verizon Communications by 3.3% during the first quarter. Sabal Trust CO now owns 747,966 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $33,928,000 after acquiring an additional 23,823 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 3,962,074 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $179,720,000 after purchasing an additional 84,280 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wolfe Research cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Nine research 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of VZ opened at $42.15 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.58. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.59 and a one year high of $47.36. The company has a market cap of $177.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.38.

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. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 13.14%. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. Research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.43%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 64.52%.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $441,352.80. This trade represents a 47.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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).