Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Given Buy Rating at Tigress Financial

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by investment analysts at Tigress Financial in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $55.00 target price on the cell phone carrier’s stock. Tigress Financial’s price target points to a potential upside of 39.36% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. DZ Bank raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Argus raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday. KeyCorp lowered Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE:VZ traded down $0.82 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $39.47. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 26,727,990 shares, compared to its average volume of 25,558,254. The company has a market capitalization of $166.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Verizon Communications has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $40.75 and a 200-day moving average of $41.60.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications will post 4.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total value of $810,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,851,664.50. This represents a 30.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verizon Communications

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,548,163,000 after acquiring an additional 5,936,009 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,824,245 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,289,054,000 after purchasing an additional 2,081,241 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,074,297 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,305,727,000 after purchasing an additional 565,842 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 18,161,563 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $815,636,000 after purchasing an additional 502,949 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.4% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 12,493,998 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $561,105,000 after buying an additional 46,100 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently 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).