Brooklyn Investment Group Boosts Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 28.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,962 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,466 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $896,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at $354,000. Waverly Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 59.8% during the first quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 37,433 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,571,000 after buying an additional 14,012 shares during the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $860,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 45.5% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,453,075 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $144,875,000 after acquiring an additional 1,080,244 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 17.0% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 275,030 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $11,530,000 after acquiring an additional 40,045 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of VZ stock opened at $43.85 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.46 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The firm has a market cap of $184.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.96, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.43.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.18%. 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%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Company 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).