Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Receives $44.50 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the fourteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six research 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 brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $44.50.

VZ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wolfe Research raised shares of Verizon Communications from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $46.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Verizon Communications from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ traded up $0.38 on Monday, hitting $40.10. The company's stock had a trading volume of 16,440,718 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,791,131. Verizon Communications has a 12-month low of $30.14 and a 12-month high of $43.42. The company has a market capitalization of $168.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $40.58 and a 200-day moving average of $38.10.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.08. The company had revenue of $35.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.60 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Verizon Communications will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.63%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 96.38%.

Insider Activity

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,387,576.33. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Certified Advisory Corp grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 23,297 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,187,000 after acquiring an additional 233 shares in the last quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 5,800 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $223,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Private Portfolio Partners LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Private Portfolio Partners LLC now owns 27,457 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,035,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. now owns 9,511 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $374,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 24.9% in the 4th quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,293 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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).