Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Raised to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Friday.

VZ has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, KeyCorp cut Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $43.15 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Verizon Communications has a 1-year low of $36.46 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The stock has a market cap of $181.65 billion, a PE ratio of 18.60, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.43.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verizon Communications

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the second quarter worth about $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Accordant Advisory Group Inc raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. 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).