Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Shares Up 0.5%

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) shot up 0.5% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $39.70 and last traded at $39.63. 1,900,699 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 19,045,758 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.43.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on 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 given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.36.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The company has a market capitalization of $167.11 billion, a PE ratio of 14.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.42. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal 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 dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.70%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 99.25%.

Institutional Trading of Verizon Communications

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,882,164,000. Capital World Investors raised its position in Verizon Communications by 127.6% during 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 lifted its holdings 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 worth $851,989,000 after buying an additional 10,882,873 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth $250,312,000. Finally, Third Point LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at $173,325,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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).