Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Lifted to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Saturday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on VZ. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. UBS Group raised 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. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Verizon Communications from a sell rating to a neutral rating and increased their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.1 %

VZ stock opened at $39.31 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The business has a 50 day moving average of $40.30 and a 200 day moving average of $39.01. Verizon Communications has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $43.42. The firm has a market cap of $165.47 billion, a PE ratio of 14.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $33 billion during 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%. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 99.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Verizon Communications

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Verus Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC now owns 121,129 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $5,083,000 after acquiring an additional 10,983 shares during the period. Capital Square LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital Square LLC now owns 17,218 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $723,000 after acquiring an additional 874 shares during the period. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 8.4% during the first quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 48,889 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,051,000 after acquiring an additional 3,771 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 140.5% in the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 32,614 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,368,000 after purchasing an additional 19,051 shares during the period. Finally, Choate Investment Advisors increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.6% during the first quarter. Choate Investment Advisors now owns 26,998 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,133,000 after purchasing an additional 1,182 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).