Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Stock Holdings Lifted by Calton & Associates Inc.

Calton & Associates Inc. lifted its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 189.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 28,366 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 18,551 shares during the period. Calton & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,274,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 50.4% in the 1st quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 883 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 762.6% in the third quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,061 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 938 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 5.8 %

Shares of VZ stock traded down $2.52 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $41.18. The company had a trading volume of 2,023,522 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,337,744. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.60. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $31.26 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The company has a 50 day moving average of $43.00 and a 200 day moving average of $41.28. The firm has a market cap of $173.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.31, a P/E/G ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.15. The company had revenue of $32.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.05 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.21 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.59%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 101.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.31.

Verizon Communications 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).