Newton One Investments LLC Takes $39,000 Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Newton One Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 981 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $39,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 30,383 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,215,000 after buying an additional 1,404 shares during the period. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 696.8% in the 4th quarter. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. now owns 9,394 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $376,000 after acquiring an additional 8,215 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 54.9% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC now owns 11,388 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $455,000 after acquiring an additional 4,037 shares during the last quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,083 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $563,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rockline Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Rockline Wealth Management LLC now owns 61,697 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,467,000 after purchasing an additional 5,614 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total transaction of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $596,439.20. This trade represents a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Argus upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. KeyCorp cut Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, DZ Bank raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.5 %

VZ opened at $40.00 on Tuesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $168.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.66, a PEG ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.45.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

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).