HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Sells 2,668 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC lowered its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 143,852 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,668 shares during the quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $6,178,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VZ. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth approximately $381,000. Meyer Handelman Co. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 1,110,948 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $50,393,000 after acquiring an additional 76,083 shares during the last quarter. Rempart Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 52.8% in the first quarter. Rempart Asset Management Inc. now owns 310,390 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $14,079,000 after acquiring an additional 107,200 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 2,075,431 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $82,996,000 after purchasing an additional 20,610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Welch Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.9% in the first quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 1,137,904 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $51,126,000 after buying an additional 63,474 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 10,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $441,352.80. This trade represents a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400 over the last three months. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VZ. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, July 10th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $47.00 price objective for the company. Arete Research raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Evercore ISI raised Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.00.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $41.83 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.44. The stock has a market cap of $176.37 billion, a PE ratio of 9.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.37. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.59 and a fifty-two week high of $47.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.61.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $34.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.47 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.14% and a return on equity of 19.66%. The business’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.15 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share 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 issued 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 yield of 6.48%. Verizon Communications’s dividend 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).