Goldstone Financial Group LLC Purchases 1,876 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Goldstone Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 18.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,875 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,876 shares during the quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $475,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 69.6% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc raised its position in shares of 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. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter worth $44,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 244.1% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 1,115 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 791 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VZ. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Raymond James lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. TD Cowen raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

VZ stock opened at $38.32 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.73. The firm has a market cap of $161.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.52, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.22 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.07%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 116.81%.

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).