Kintegral Advisory LLC Has $4.31 Million Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Kintegral Advisory LLC decreased its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 32.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 94,978 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 46,582 shares during the quarter. Kintegral Advisory LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,308,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 22.6% during the first quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 14,039 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $637,000 after purchasing an additional 2,585 shares in the last quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 24.0% during the first quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 134,346 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $6,094,000 after acquiring an additional 25,988 shares during the period. Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.2% in the first quarter. Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA now owns 764,566 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $34,682,000 after acquiring an additional 23,476 shares during the last quarter. Huntleigh Advisors Inc. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 5.0% in the first quarter. Huntleigh Advisors Inc. now owns 8,634 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $392,000 after purchasing an additional 414 shares during the period. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 8.7% during the 1st quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 903,480 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $40,575,000 after purchasing an additional 72,230 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total value of $396,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 10,008 shares in the company, valued at $441,352.80. The trade was a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $47.25.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded up $0.03 during trading on Friday, hitting $43.62. 10,301,320 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,121,261. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $43.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.26. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.59 and a 52 week high of $47.36. The company has a market cap of $183.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.37.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.14% and a return on equity of 19.66%. The firm had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is presently 64.52%.

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).