Integral Investment Advisors Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Integral Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,284 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 476 shares during the period. Integral Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $542,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at $8,005,000. Arrow Financial Corp boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 36.0% during the 2nd quarter. Arrow Financial Corp now owns 14,165 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $584,000 after purchasing an additional 3,746 shares during the last quarter. TFB Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 17.0% during the 2nd quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 16,815 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $693,000 after purchasing an additional 2,441 shares during the last quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC now owns 67,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,764,000 after purchasing an additional 1,118 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 41,135 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,696,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the topic of a number of research reports. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. StockNews.com upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 4th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.78.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock traded up $0.53 on Friday, hitting $41.78. The company had a trading volume of 20,009,887 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,351,631. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $43.42. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $40.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.47. The firm has a market cap of $175.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.41.

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

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 99.25%.

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).