Brokerages Set Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Price Target at $44.36

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $44.77.

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 4th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 1,351,680.0% during the 3rd quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 202,767 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,572,000 after acquiring an additional 202,752 shares in the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 35.4% during the 3rd quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 80,730 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,616,000 after acquiring an additional 21,125 shares in the last quarter. Spinnaker Trust boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 23,027 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $746,000 after purchasing an additional 2,662 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 40.8% in the 3rd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 4,956,916 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $160,654,000 after purchasing an additional 1,435,501 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Soltis Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 68.7% in the 3rd quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 189,191 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $6,132,000 after purchasing an additional 77,066 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $41.33 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $173.95 billion, a PE ratio of 15.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.42. Verizon Communications has a 52 week low of $30.14 and a 52 week high of $43.42. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $40.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.20 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be issued a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.44%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 99.25%.

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).