Elevated Capital Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 29,835 Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Elevated Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ – Get Rating) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 29,835 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $1,520,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Sigma Planning Corp grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 253,960 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $12,937,000 after buying an additional 5,284 shares during the period. Capital City Trust Co. FL grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Capital City Trust Co. FL now owns 69,605 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,546,000 after buying an additional 858 shares during the period. HFG Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth approximately $218,000. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 39,954 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,035,000 after buying an additional 3,641 shares during the period. Finally, Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth approximately $262,000. 63.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

In other news, EVP Craig L. Silliman sold 1,558 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Friday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.94, for a total transaction of $79,364.52. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 34,961 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,780,913.34. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Tami A. Erwin sold 23,647 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.77, for a total value of $1,176,911.19. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 21,817 shares in the company, valued at $1,085,832.09. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 26,763 shares of company stock worth $1,334,176 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

VZ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. DZ Bank downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $44.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, April 29th. Credit Suisse Group reduced their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $57.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Friday, June 24th. Wolfe Research reduced their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $60.00 to $51.00 and set a “peer perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $61.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Monday, April 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $57.14.

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $51.64 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $51.86. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $45.55 and a 1-year high of $56.85. The stock has a market cap of $216.87 billion, a PE ratio of 10.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.40.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.35. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 28.15% and a net margin of 15.93%. The business had revenue of $33.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.61 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.31 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 5.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.64 per share. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.96%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 7th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 49.71%.

About Verizon Communications (Get Rating)

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, offers communications, technology, information, and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses, and governmental entities worldwide. Its Consumer segment provides postpaid and prepaid service plans; internet access on notebook computers and tablets; wireless equipment, including smartphones and other handsets; and wireless-enabled internet devices, such as tablets, and other wireless-enabled connected devices comprising smart watches.

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