Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Purchased by Stonebrook Private Inc.

Stonebrook Private Inc. boosted its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 45,120 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,537 shares during the period. Stonebrook Private Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,026,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Accordant Advisory Group Inc boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $43.15 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $181.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.43. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $42.90 and a 200-day moving average of $41.53. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.46 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.22 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.678 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.29%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 116.81%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on VZ shares. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. KeyCorp lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group raised their target price 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. Finally, Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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).