Investors Research Corp Has $1.71 Million Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Investors Research Corp boosted its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 16.6% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 37,791 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,371 shares during the quarter. Investors Research Corp’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,714,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of VZ. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,300,846,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,083,337,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 3,601.6% in the fourth quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 8,937,180 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $357,398,000 after purchasing an additional 8,695,736 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 108,694,230 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,346,682,000 after acquiring an additional 7,421,148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 52.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 19,828,378 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $792,937,000 after acquiring an additional 6,846,514 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 target price (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Evercore ISI raised Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.41.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total transaction of $212,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 36,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,550,859.84. This represents a 12.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $43.92 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.21. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.59 and a one year high of $47.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $185.18 billion, a PE ratio of 10.61, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS 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 business had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.31 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

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).