Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Trading Up 0.1% After Analyst Upgrade

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) shares were up 0.1% on Tuesday after Oppenheimer raised their price target on the stock from $48.00 to $50.00. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Verizon Communications traded as high as $45.60 and last traded at $45.39. Approximately 3,796,250 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 24,744,855 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.36.

VZ has been the topic of several other reports. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com cut Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Tigress Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.82.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total value of $453,154.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $596,439.20. This represents a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total value of $437,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verizon Communications

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $2,300,846,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $1,083,337,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3,601.6% during the fourth quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 8,937,180 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $357,398,000 after buying an additional 8,695,736 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 108,694,230 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,346,682,000 after buying an additional 7,421,148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 52.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 19,828,378 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $792,937,000 after acquiring an additional 6,846,514 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $42.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The firm has a market cap of $191.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 65.46%.

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).