Klingman & Associates LLC Increases Position in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Klingman & Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 78.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,809 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,886 shares during the quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $381,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. 1 North Wealth Services LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. RMG Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Global Trust Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 222.2% during the 2nd quarter. Global Trust Asset Management LLC now owns 725 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on VZ. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ opened at $40.29 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.64. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $47.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $169.88 billion, a PE ratio of 9.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.37.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 19.61%. The business had revenue of $34.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.47 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.15 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.9%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.34%.

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).