Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Trading Down 0.3%

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) shares fell 0.3% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $38.75 and last traded at $38.81. 3,598,444 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 19,901,850 shares. The stock had previously closed at $38.93.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of 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 report on Wednesday, January 24th. Barclays lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $163.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.51, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.42. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results 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. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The business had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.20 EPS. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were given a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.84%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 99.25%.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,387,576.33. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verizon Communications

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 valued at $11,396,167,000 after purchasing an additional 930,367 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,151,714,000 after purchasing an additional 4,527,387 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,882,164,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Verizon Communications by 4.7% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake 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 valued at $920,455,000 after purchasing an additional 4,134,150 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).