Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Purchased by Kooman & Associates

Kooman & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 69.4% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 12,690 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,198 shares during the period. Verizon Communications makes up about 0.2% of Kooman & Associates’ portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Kooman & Associates’ holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $523,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 127.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,801,067 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $821,900,000 after acquiring an additional 12,220,777 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 92.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 22,599,173 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $851,989,000 after buying an additional 10,882,873 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $250,312,000. Third Point LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth approximately $173,325,000. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 419.8% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 5,141,257 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $193,825,000 after purchasing an additional 4,152,099 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Monday, September 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.66.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $44.10 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $41.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.71. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.14 and a 52-week high of $45.05. The stock has a market cap of $185.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.63.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.15. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The company had revenue of $32.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.05 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.21 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $0.678 dividend. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.15%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.12%.

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).