Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $46.26.

Several equities analysts recently commented on VZ shares. Bank of America increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st.

Institutional Trading of Verizon Communications

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,267,175 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $14,739,171,000 after buying an additional 1,216,963 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 38,357,031 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,581,848,000 after purchasing an additional 1,106,887 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 35,561,841 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,466,446,000 after buying an additional 535,322 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,458,264 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $678,739,000 after purchasing an additional 104,447 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 13,127,360 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $541,372,000 after purchasing an additional 936,823 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $43.00 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $181.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $42.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.22. Verizon Communications has a 12 month low of $30.62 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The business had revenue of $32.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.21 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Verizon Communications will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 99.63%.

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).