Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Trading 0.7% Higher – Time to Buy?

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) shares rose 0.7% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $39.94 and last traded at $39.74. Approximately 5,346,967 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 24,532,104 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.47.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on VZ shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. KeyCorp cut Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. TD Cowen raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.1 %

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market cap of $165.92 billion, a PE ratio of 9.52, a P/E/G ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 0.46.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.88%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 65.46%.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total transaction of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $596,439.20. This represents a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 69.6% in the 4th quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the period. Compass Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the period. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

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).