Brookstone Capital Management Raises Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Brookstone Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 386,661 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,242 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $15,463,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 69.6% during the fourth quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 762.6% during the third quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,061 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 938 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.6 %

VZ traded up $0.21 during trading on Monday, hitting $38.02. 5,785,212 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,660,393. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.80. The firm has a market cap of $160.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.58 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.13%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. KeyCorp lowered Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Raymond James raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.54.

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).