State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Buys 14,589 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,384,159 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 14,589 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned about 0.06% of Verizon Communications worth $89,883,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 627.8% in the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 130.1% during the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 320.0% during the third quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 1,050 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock traded up $0.46 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $39.68. The company had a trading volume of 18,245,309 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,159,520. The company has a market capitalization of $166.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.14 and a 12-month high of $43.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $40.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.46.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The business’s revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.70%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 99.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on VZ. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Raymond James upped 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. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.21.

Verizon Communications 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).