Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Trading Down 0.7%

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)’s share price was down 0.7% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $38.96 and last traded at $39.20. Approximately 4,701,931 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 20,030,203 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.49.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VZ. UBS Group upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Wolfe Research raised Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.7 %

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $164.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.20 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.78%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 99.25%.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verizon Communications

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in 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 worth $11,396,167,000 after purchasing an additional 930,367 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in 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 worth $3,151,714,000 after purchasing an additional 4,527,387 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth about $1,882,164,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Verizon Communications by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 44,621,839 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,446,194,000 after purchasing an additional 2,015,139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 28,400,326 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $920,455,000 after purchasing an additional 4,134,150 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).