Capital Square LLC Has $709,000 Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Capital Square LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 15,791 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,549 shares during the period. Capital Square LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $709,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter worth about $250,312,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,548,163,000 after acquiring an additional 5,936,009 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4,520.3% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,815,534 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $216,266,000 after acquiring an additional 4,711,309 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 112.6% during the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 6,574,910 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $273,507,000 after purchasing an additional 3,481,936 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 18.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,016,271 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $536,791,000 after purchasing an additional 2,040,247 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ traded up $0.57 on Monday, reaching $43.72. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,118,268 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,432,813. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $36.46 and a 12-month high of $45.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $184.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.60, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.56.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.22 earnings per share. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.678 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.20%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on VZ shares. StockNews.com raised Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.

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).