Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Trading Down 0.8%

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) was down 0.8% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $39.57 and last traded at $39.77. Approximately 14,016,776 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 14% from the average daily volume of 16,262,630 shares. The stock had previously closed at $40.11.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on VZ shares. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada raised 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 note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.50.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $40.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market cap of $167.20 billion, a PE ratio of 14.41, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.08. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The company had revenue of $35.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.60 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 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. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.69%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 96.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. MCF Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.7% during the first quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 12,625 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $530,000 after buying an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. Opinicus Capital Inc. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Opinicus Capital Inc. now owns 33,452 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,404,000 after purchasing an additional 1,447 shares during the last quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 30,464 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,278,000 after purchasing an additional 2,383 shares during the last quarter. Weaver Consulting Group boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 8.7% during the 1st quarter. Weaver Consulting Group now owns 24,305 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,020,000 after purchasing an additional 1,948 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 35,253 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,479,000 after acquiring an additional 4,317 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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).