Morey & Quinn Wealth Partners LLC Invests $493,000 in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Morey & Quinn Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 12,333 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock, valued at approximately $493,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Algert Global LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at about $1,781,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 6,355 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $285,000 after buying an additional 408 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.2% during the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 46,871 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $2,105,000 after buying an additional 548 shares during the period. Hancock Whitney Corp raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.4% during the third quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 83,956 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $3,770,000 after acquiring an additional 374 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the third quarter worth $210,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total value of $453,154.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at $596,439.20. This trade represents a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total value of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares of the company's stock, valued at $633,159.61. The trade was a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895 in the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded down $0.01 during trading on Friday, reaching $44.96. 10,599,895 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 24,899,072. The stock has a market cap of $189.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $41.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.07. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $47.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on VZ shares. DZ Bank raised shares of Verizon Communications from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Argus upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Tigress Financial reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $46.71.

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).