New Republic Capital LLC Has $217,000 Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

New Republic Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 13.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,438 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 650 shares during the period. New Republic Capital LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $217,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas now owns 83,090 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,323,000 after buying an additional 6,544 shares during the period. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 25,114 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,004,000 after acquiring an additional 373 shares during the period. Sovran Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $728,000. Peterson Wealth Services increased its position in Verizon Communications by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Peterson Wealth Services now owns 25,694 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,028,000 after purchasing an additional 2,064 shares during the period. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth about $270,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $39.94 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $40.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.56. The company has a market capitalization of $168.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.45.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 quarter last year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.78%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.46%.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $596,439.20. This represents a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 39,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,582,995 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Argus upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, KeyCorp cut Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.08.

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).