Liberty Square Wealth Partners LLC Purchases New Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Liberty Square Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 11,641 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock, valued at approximately $477,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 27.7% during the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 222,366 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $8,892,000 after purchasing an additional 48,294 shares during the period. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 382,678 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $15,303,000 after purchasing an additional 6,795 shares in the last quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,333,000. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 64.6% in the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,394,921 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $55,783,000 after buying an additional 547,384 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Axis Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $1,200,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VZ. DZ Bank upgraded Verizon Communications from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Argus upgraded Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Wolfe Research cut shares of Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded up $0.18 on Tuesday, hitting $43.50. 12,862,291 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,187,579. The firm has a market capitalization of $183.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.59 and a 1-year high of $47.36. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $43.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.15.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. Sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.52%.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total transaction of $212,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 36,508 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,550,859.84. This trade represents a 12.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

About Verizon Communications

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).