TFR Capital LLC. Buys Shares of 8,164 Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

TFR Capital LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 8,164 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $370,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 363,824,525 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $14,549,343,000 after purchasing an additional 5,697,337 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 96,823,092 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,862,441,000 after purchasing an additional 998,847 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $2,300,846,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 45,043,310 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,801,282,000 after purchasing an additional 4,951,733 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 38,893,487 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,555,351,000 after purchasing an additional 4,568,518 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VZ. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Arete Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total value of $396,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 10,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $441,352.80. This represents a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400 over the last three months. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $41.63 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $43.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company has a market capitalization of $175.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.37. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.59 and a 52-week high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 13.14%. Research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.51%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 64.52%.

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).