Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Earns Outperform Rating from Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Oppenheimer currently has a $48.00 price objective on the cell phone carrier’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Verizon Communications from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. StockNews.com cut Verizon Communications from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Verizon Communications from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $46.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $39.22 on Tuesday. 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.46. Verizon Communications has a 1-year low of $30.14 and a 1-year high of $43.42. The stock has a market cap of $164.89 billion, a PE ratio of 14.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The business had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.20 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Verizon Communications will post 4.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total value 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 627.8% during the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 130.1% during the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HBC Financial Services PLLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 320.0% during the third quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 1,050 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

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).