Mirador Capital Partners LP Purchases 1,528 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Mirador Capital Partners LP grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.4% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 22,292 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 1,528 shares during the quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $935,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 627.8% in the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the period. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 130.1% in the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the period. Finally, Vima LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on VZ shares. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 4th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Monday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.14.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ traded up $0.48 during trading on Monday, reaching $41.72. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,956,028 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,795,799. The firm has a market cap of $175.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.71. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $40.07 and a 200-day moving average of $40.06. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.14 and a 12 month high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. Research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be issued a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.38%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 99.25%.

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).