Liberty Square Wealth Partners LLC Purchases 321 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Liberty Square Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 11,297 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 321 shares during the period. Liberty Square Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $489,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Bulwark Capital Corp acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at about $26,000. 1 North Wealth Services LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at about $29,000. Accent Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, RMG Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $40.56 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $170.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.45, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.37. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $47.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.64. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $43.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.07.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $34.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.47 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 19.61%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.15 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.8%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VZ. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Arete Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.63.

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).