V Square Quantitative Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 42.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 75,191 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after buying an additional 22,336 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications comprises about 0.5% of V Square Quantitative Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. V Square Quantitative Management LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,155,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of VZ. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,625,025 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $11,396,167,000 after buying an additional 930,367 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $3,151,714,000 after acquiring an additional 4,527,387 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,882,164,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 44,621,839 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,446,194,000 after purchasing an additional 2,015,139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 28,400,326 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $920,455,000 after purchasing an additional 4,134,150 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Verizon Communications from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their target price for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. KeyCorp raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Six 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 stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $44.36.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded down $0.47 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $39.65. The company had a trading volume of 18,324,866 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,342,398. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $30.14 and a one year high of $43.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.79, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.42. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $40.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. Verizon Communications's quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.20 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.71%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 99.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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).

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