Kraematon Investment Advisors Inc. Lowers Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Kraematon Investment Advisors Inc. lessened its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 8.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,772 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,090 shares during the quarter. Kraematon Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $884,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 32.1% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 4,596,031 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $128,649,000 after acquiring an additional 1,115,894 shares in the last quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc now owns 87,749 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,263,000 after acquiring an additional 4,485 shares during the period. Gateway Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the second quarter worth $278,000. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.2% in the second quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 4,939,181 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $184,755,000 after purchasing an additional 199,944 shares during the period. Finally, SBB Research Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth about $442,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on VZ. Tigress Financial cut their price objective on Verizon Communications from $64.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 2nd. Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $51.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $44.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Citigroup upgraded Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $39.00 to $40.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 29th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $41.50.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:VZ traded up $0.35 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $36.58. 6,014,449 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,056,783. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $42.58. The business has a 50-day moving average of $33.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $34.45. The company has a market capitalization of $153.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.32, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.05. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 21.26% and a net margin of 15.58%. The company had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.27 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.32 EPS. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.7 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 10th were paid a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 6th. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.63%.

Verizon Communications Company Profile

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides 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).