Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Trading Up 0% After Analyst Upgrade

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)’s share price rose 0% during trading on Monday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $44.00 to $45.00. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Verizon Communications traded as high as $40.13 and last traded at $39.94. Approximately 4,003,263 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 18,433,604 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.93.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on VZ. KeyCorp lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Bank of America raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.51.

Institutional Trading of Verizon Communications

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, Denver PWM LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the second quarter worth $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.1 %

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The firm has a market cap of $167.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.44.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.22 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

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).