Crestwood Advisors Group LLC Increases Position in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Crestwood Advisors Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 16.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 18,035 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,535 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $780,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Corps Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Corps Capital Advisors LLC now owns 14,667 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $635,000 after buying an additional 587 shares in the last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 13.2% in the second quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 4,289 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $186,000 after acquiring an additional 499 shares during the last quarter. Rockline Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.8% during the second quarter. Rockline Wealth Management LLC now owns 66,658 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,884,000 after acquiring an additional 1,151 shares in the last quarter. Elyxium Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 74.9% in the 2nd quarter. Elyxium Wealth LLC now owns 16,869 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $730,000 after purchasing an additional 7,226 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC now owns 43,074 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,864,000 after purchasing an additional 614 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE:VZ opened at $39.79 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $47.35. The company has a market cap of $167.79 billion, a PE ratio of 8.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.71.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.9%. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on VZ shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane lowered Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.41.

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).