Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Trading 0.5% Higher

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report)'s stock price rose 0.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $40.91 and last traded at $40.70. Approximately 2,578,879 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 19,448,764 shares. The stock had previously closed at $40.49.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Redburn Atlantic raised Verizon Communications from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price 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. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The company's fifty day moving average is $40.30 and its 200 day moving average is $39.24. The company has a market cap of $170.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $33.23 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.20 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.57%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is currently 99.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Verizon Communications

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of VZ. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,625,025 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $11,396,167,000 after acquiring an additional 930,367 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $3,151,714,000 after buying an additional 4,527,387 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth about $1,882,164,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 44,621,839 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,446,194,000 after buying an additional 2,015,139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 28,400,326 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $920,455,000 after buying an additional 4,134,150 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

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).

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