Pullen Investment Management LLC Buys Shares of 22,272 Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Pullen Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 22,272 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $1,010,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 61.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,759,000 after acquiring an additional 16,704 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,676,920 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $67,060,000 after purchasing an additional 186,176 shares during the period. Avestar Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 25,579 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,023,000 after purchasing an additional 1,774 shares in the last quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at $2,621,000. Finally, Bogart Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 961.3% in the fourth quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 185,724 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $7,427,000 after purchasing an additional 168,224 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI upgraded Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Nine 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 data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.41.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.88, for a total transaction of $329,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 19,008 shares in the company, valued at $834,071.04. The trade was a 28.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE VZ opened at $42.96 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $181.11 billion, a PE ratio of 10.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.59 and a 1-year high of $47.36. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $43.43 and a 200-day moving average of $42.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

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

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given 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 6.31%. Verizon Communications’s 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).