Brooklyn Investment Group Increases Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Brooklyn Investment Group raised its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 28.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,962 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 4,466 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $896,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the second quarter worth about $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Accordant Advisory Group Inc lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock opened at $43.85 on Tuesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.46 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $184.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.96, a P/E/G 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 business’s 50-day moving average is $42.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.59.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. Analysts anticipate 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 issued a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.18%. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 116.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Nine investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.37.

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).