Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. Increases Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 30,383 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,404 shares during the quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,215,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fermata Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.5% during the third quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 5,626 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $253,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 3.0% during the third quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 8,450 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $379,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 3.4% during the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC now owns 7,628 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $343,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Wynn Capital LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.4% in the third quarter. Wynn Capital LLC now owns 5,945 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $267,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Western Financial Corp CA grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.5% in the third quarter. Western Financial Corp CA now owns 17,491 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $786,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total value of $810,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 45,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,851,664.50. The trade was a 30.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. DZ Bank upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Argus upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.5 %

Verizon Communications stock opened at $40.00 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The firm has a market cap of $168.36 billion, a PE ratio of 9.66, a P/E/G ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.45. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.57. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.46%.

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).