Occidental Asset Management LLC Has $2.14 Million Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Occidental Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 57,474 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 2,384 shares during the quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,137,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. BCK Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,101,000. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC now owns 5,980 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $279,000 after purchasing an additional 487 shares during the last quarter. Ergoteles LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 174.0% during the 1st quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 91,776 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,675,000 after purchasing an additional 58,283 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,194,111 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $60,828,000 after purchasing an additional 113,032 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Western Trust Bank bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $567,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on VZ shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $44.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, August 3rd. Edward Jones lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 17th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, August 22nd. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $39.00 to $40.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 29th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.40.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.8 %

Verizon Communications stock opened at $33.54 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $31.25 and a 12-month high of $42.58. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $33.70 and its 200 day moving average is $35.94. The company has a market capitalization of $140.98 billion, a PE ratio of 6.71, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 15.58% and a return on equity of 22.28%. The company had revenue of $32.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.31 EPS. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 6th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.93%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.20%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Samantha Hammock sold 12,557 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.29, for a total value of $418,022.53. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

About Verizon Communications

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides 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).