Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the seventeen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $46.54.

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp lowered Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $38.33 on Wednesday. Verizon Communications has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.76. The company has a market cap of $161.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.52, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.22 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.07%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 116.81%.

Institutional Trading of Verizon Communications

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. One Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 34.9% during the 2nd quarter. One Capital Management LLC now owns 11,346 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $468,000 after purchasing an additional 2,937 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 25.8% in the second quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 94,156 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,883,000 after buying an additional 19,333 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 3,968.9% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 453,558 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $18,705,000 after acquiring an additional 442,411 shares during the last quarter. Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth $221,000. Finally, Excalibur Management Corp grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Excalibur Management Corp now owns 100,906 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,161,000 after acquiring an additional 3,630 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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).