Sanford C. Bernstein Cuts Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Price Target to $44.00

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) had its price target cut by Sanford C. Bernstein from $46.00 to $44.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the cell phone carrier’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.25.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 1.0%

VZ stock opened at $38.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $164.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.34. The business has a 50-day moving average of $40.52 and a 200-day moving average of $41.75. Verizon Communications has a fifty-two week low of $38.35 and a fifty-two week high of $47.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $33.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The company’s revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.19 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 12th will be paid a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 12th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.97%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verizon Communications

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,504,150,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 3.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 215,490,064 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,470,788,000 after buying an additional 7,276,809 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 51.1% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,512,228 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $637,812,000 after buying an additional 4,905,101 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 372,787,016 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $16,130,494,000 after acquiring an additional 4,615,075 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 21.5% during the 2nd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 21,159,040 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $915,552,000 after acquiring an additional 3,743,892 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

More Verizon Communications News

Here are the key news stories impacting Verizon Communications this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Regulatory approvals complete for Frontier acquisition — Verizon expects the transaction to close Jan. 20, bringing roughly 30 million fiber passings and enabling cross‑selling of fiber and 5G services, which could materially expand growth runway and ARPU over time. GlobeNewswire: Approvals to Complete Transaction
• Neutral Sentiment: AST SpaceMobile wins Pentagon contract — headlines lifted ASTS shares and remind investors Verizon has partnerships with LEO satellite providers, which could support future wholesale or coverage initiatives, but the news is primarily a catalyst for ASTS rather than VZ. MarketBeat: Pentagon Deal Sends AST SpaceMobile Soaring
• Negative Sentiment: Widespread outage and $20 customer credits — a multi‑hour nationwide outage tied to a software issue triggered customer complaints and scrutiny; Verizon is offering a $20 redeemable credit to affected users, which raises short‑term costs and reputational risk and has prompted calls for mandatory refunds. This outage is the principal near‑term negative driving sentiment. Investopedia: Why Verizon Customers Are Getting $20 Payouts
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst price‑target cut — Sanford C. Bernstein trimmed its VZ target from $46 to $44 and moved to Market Perform, signaling more cautious near‑term expectations; the change tempers upside in the short term. TickerReport / Benzinga: Analyst Price Target Cut

Verizon Communications Company Profile

Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ) is a major U.S.-based telecommunications company that provides a broad range of communications and information services. Its operations span consumer and business markets, with core offerings that include wireless voice and data services, fixed-line broadband and fiber-optic services, and enterprise networking solutions. Verizon is headquartered in New York City and operates a nationwide wireless network that supports consumer subscribers as well as business and government customers.

The company’s consumer products include mobile phone plans, unlimited data services, and Fios, its branded fiber-optic internet, television and voice service for homes and small businesses.