Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Upgraded to “Buy” by StockNews.com

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

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on VZ. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Verizon Communications from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and boosted their target price for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a sell rating to a neutral rating and raised their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded down $0.04 on Friday, reaching $38.89. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 13,195,563 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,003,748. 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 has a 52-week low of $30.14 and a 52-week high of $43.42. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $40.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $163.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.51, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The business’s revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.20 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Verizon Communications

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $1,882,164,000. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 127.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,801,067 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $821,900,000 after purchasing an additional 12,220,777 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 92.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 22,599,173 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $851,989,000 after purchasing an additional 10,882,873 shares in the last quarter. Third Point LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $173,325,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.8% during the third 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 buying an additional 4,527,387 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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).