Brookstone Capital Management Has $14.66 Million Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Brookstone Capital Management lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 348,862 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,164 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $14,663,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,267,175 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $14,739,171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,216,963 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,882,164,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in 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 buying an additional 10,882,873 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 127.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,801,067 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $821,900,000 after acquiring an additional 12,220,777 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 12.0% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,353,817 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $686,206,000 after acquiring an additional 1,757,208 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on VZ shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. TD Cowen boosted their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on 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 assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.78.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE:VZ traded up $0.57 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $40.61. 13,377,523 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,707,240. The company has a market cap of $170.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.14 and a 1 year high of $43.42. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $40.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.48. 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 (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The company had revenue of $32.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.21 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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).