Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) traded up 0.5% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $39.70 and last traded at $39.63. 1,900,699 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 19,045,758 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.43.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. 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 note on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded 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 note on Friday, March 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $44.36.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.71. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $40.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $167.15 billion, a PE ratio of 14.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. Verizon Communications's revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.20 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were given a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.70%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 99.25%.

Institutional Trading of Verizon Communications

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Taylor Hoffman Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 32.9% during the fourth quarter. Taylor Hoffman Wealth Management now owns 9,353 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $353,000 after acquiring an additional 2,314 shares during the last quarter. WealthTrust Axiom LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. WealthTrust Axiom LLC now owns 118,806 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $4,479,000 after acquiring an additional 2,422 shares during the last quarter. Portland Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 173.7% during the third quarter. Portland Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 652,169 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $21,137,000 after acquiring an additional 413,869 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 127,632 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $5,131,000 after acquiring an additional 1,616 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GFS Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $212,000. 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).