NewSquare Capital LLC Has $4.55 Million Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

NewSquare Capital LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 122,342 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 971 shares during the quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,550,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Portland Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 173.7% in the 3rd quarter. Portland Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 652,169 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $21,137,000 after buying an additional 413,869 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 127,632 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $5,131,000 after buying an additional 1,616 shares during the last quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 51,757 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,677,000 after buying an additional 3,020 shares during the last quarter. GFS Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $212,000. Finally, Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at about $306,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on VZ shares. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE:VZ traded up $1.09 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $39.69. The stock had a trading volume of 25,970,800 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,270,385. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $30.14 and a one year high of $43.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $166.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.42, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The firm had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.20 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 96.38%.

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).