Westside Investment Management Inc. Has $27,000 Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Westside Investment Management Inc. lessened its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 33.9% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 650 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 334 shares during the quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $27,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VZ. Evergreen Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 41,068 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,331,000 after purchasing an additional 3,079 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 52.8% in the third quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 22,867 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $741,000 after buying an additional 7,904 shares during the period. KPP Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at about $218,000. Kenfarb & CO. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 56.0% in the third quarter. Kenfarb & CO. now owns 22,655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $734,000 after buying an additional 8,135 shares during the period. Finally, JT Stratford LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 135.3% in the third quarter. JT Stratford LLC now owns 36,242 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,175,000 after buying an additional 20,840 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. StockNews.com raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 4th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.14.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $41.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.71. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.14 and a 52 week high of $43.42. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $40.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $173.08 billion, a PE ratio of 15.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The firm had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.20 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be paid a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.47%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 99.25%.

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).