Stonebrook Private Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Stonebrook Private Inc. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,583 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 366 shares during the period. Stonebrook Private Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,756,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at $1,882,164,000. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 127.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,801,067 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $821,900,000 after acquiring an additional 12,220,777 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 92.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 22,599,173 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $851,989,000 after purchasing an additional 10,882,873 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth about $250,312,000. Finally, Third Point LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $173,325,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VZ. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $42.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective on the stock. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.66.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded down $0.16 during trading on Friday, reaching $41.15. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 18,100,349 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,511,424. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $40.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.53. The company has a market capitalization of $173.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.14 and a 12-month high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The business had revenue of $32.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.21 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.57 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.59%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 99.25%.

Verizon Communications 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).