Brucke Financial Inc. Buys Shares of 11,156 Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Brucke Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 11,156 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock, valued at approximately $439,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NCM Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. NCM Capital Management LLC now owns 18,390 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $735,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 10,968 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $439,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. JB Capital LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. JB Capital LLC now owns 20,816 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $832,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp now owns 34,786 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,391,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 9.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,915 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $117,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded up $0.18 on Tuesday, reaching $43.50. 12,862,291 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,187,579. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.59 and a fifty-two week high of $47.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $183.41 billion, a PE ratio of 10.51, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39. The company's 50 day moving average is $43.59 and its 200-day moving average is $42.15.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. The business had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.23%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is 64.52%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on VZ. DZ Bank upgraded Verizon Communications from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Argus upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $47.41.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total transaction of $396,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 10,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $441,352.80. This trade represents a 47.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

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).