Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Stock Has Consensus Price Target of $50.80

Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-nine analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and thirteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $51.05.

VZ has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 27th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $51.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 27th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 27th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 27th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 1,100 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.00, for a total value of $47,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 98,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,251,238. This trade represents a 1.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 11,000 shares of company stock valued at $516,373 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verizon Communications

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VZ. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 15.4% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 62,101,021 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,117,471,000 after buying an additional 8,289,877 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 20.8% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 38,164,982 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,915,882,000 after buying an additional 6,580,820 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 14.1% in the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 41,173,226 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,743,274,000 after buying an additional 5,075,794 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 6.4% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 32,734,998 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,643,339,000 after buying an additional 1,972,634 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 6.7% during the second quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 20,882,074 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $884,147,000 after buying an additional 1,305,471 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $45.21 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.57. Verizon Communications has a 1-year low of $38.68 and a 1-year high of $51.68. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $46.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $187.84 billion, a PE ratio of 8.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.26.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 26th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $34.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.77 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.75% and a net margin of 11.78%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.21 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Verizon Communications will post 5.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 9th were issued a $0.7075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 9th. This represents a $2.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.3%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.19%.

Verizon Communications Company Profile

Verizon Communications Inc is a telecommunications company that provides wireless communications, broadband, and digital connectivity services. Through its consumer business, Verizon offers mobile voice and data plans, smartphones and other connected devices, home internet, fixed wireless access, and fiber-optic broadband services under the Fios brand.

Verizon also serves businesses, government agencies, and other organizations with wireless connectivity, private networks, internet and data services, managed communications, cloud and security solutions, and Internet of Things services.