Kovack Advisors Inc. Has $2.10 Million Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Kovack Advisors Inc. decreased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 48,469 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 8,514 shares during the period. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,097,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VZ. GQG Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 303.9% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 49,859,967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,261,648,000 after buying an additional 37,516,167 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter valued at approximately $661,720,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 737.5% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 11,697,003 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $530,576,000 after purchasing an additional 10,300,369 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 301.2% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 8,504,920 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $385,750,000 after purchasing an additional 6,385,197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 20.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 31,626,373 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,434,572,000 after purchasing an additional 5,392,416 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on VZ shares. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price target on the stock. Scotiabank raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $50.50 to $51.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Arete Research upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Weiss Ratings cut Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, BNP Paribas cut Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $38.96 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $47.35. The stock has a market cap of $164.27 billion, a PE ratio of 8.32, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.74. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $42.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.87.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.02. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The firm had revenue of $33.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.1%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 58.97%.

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).