Kovack Advisors Inc. Sells 8,514 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Kovack Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 14.9% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm 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 SEC filing.

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

Verizon Communications Stock Down 3.1%

Shares of VZ stock opened at $38.96 on Friday. 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 is $42.40 and its 200-day moving average is $42.87. The stock has a market cap of $164.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.32, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.37. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $47.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $33.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 19.31%. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.19 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on VZ. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.50 to $51.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Arete Research raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Company Profile

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).