Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Lifted to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Saturday morning.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on VZ. Barclays upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Oppenheimer reiterated an outperform rating and set a $48.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE VZ opened at $39.34 on Friday. Verizon Communications has a 12 month low of $30.14 and a 12 month high of $43.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $165.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.68, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $40.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.20 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.76%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 99.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total value of $604,950.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,387,576.33. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Verizon Communications

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VZ. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,625,025 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $11,396,167,000 after buying an additional 930,367 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,151,714,000 after purchasing an additional 4,527,387 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,882,164,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 44,621,839 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,446,194,000 after purchasing an additional 2,015,139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 28,400,326 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $920,455,000 after purchasing an additional 4,134,150 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Company 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).