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

Kraematon Investment Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 15,829 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 727 shares during the quarter. Kraematon Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $633,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Empirical Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 177.4% in the fourth quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC now owns 33,544 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,341,000 after buying an additional 21,451 shares during the last quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 11,471 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $459,000 after buying an additional 935 shares during the last quarter. Cohen Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Cohen Investment Advisors LLC now owns 61,749 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,469,000 after buying an additional 1,460 shares during the last quarter. Cypress Wealth Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Cypress Wealth Services LLC now owns 20,001 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,573 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Advisors Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,914 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $396,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the topic of a number of research reports. Raymond James increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. KeyCorp lowered Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Citigroup increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $38.32 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $161.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.46. The business’s 50 day moving average is $41.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.58 and a 12-month high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.22 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.07%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

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).