Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Friday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on VZ. KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $43.98 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $185.14 billion, a PE ratio of 18.96, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.43. Verizon Communications has a 52 week low of $36.46 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The company’s fifty day moving average is $42.88 and its 200-day moving average is $41.59.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.22 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.678 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.17%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

Institutional Trading of Verizon Communications

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at about $354,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 130,883 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,492,000 after purchasing an additional 8,033 shares during the last quarter. London & Capital Asset Management Ltd lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. London & Capital Asset Management Ltd now owns 1,004,640 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $42,155,000 after purchasing an additional 3,304 shares during the period. Talisman Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at $226,000. Finally, Perritt Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.0% during the first quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,363 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $309,000 after buying an additional 417 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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).