Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $44.50.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on VZ shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verizon Communications

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,625,025 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $11,396,167,000 after purchasing an additional 930,367 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,151,714,000 after acquiring an additional 4,527,387 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 88,532.0% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 79,084,569 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,115,932,000 after acquiring an additional 78,995,341 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 21.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 67,976,459 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,678,273,000 after acquiring an additional 11,987,691 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at $1,882,164,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $39.72 on Monday. Verizon Communications has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $43.42. The company has a market capitalization of $166.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.41. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.69.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.08. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The business had revenue of $35.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.70%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 96.38%.

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).