Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) has earned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the eighteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $47.41.

VZ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.88, for a total transaction of $329,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 19,008 shares in the company, valued at $834,071.04. The trade was a 28.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In the last quarter, insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verizon Communications

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Compass Financial Services Inc increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 111.6% in the first quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc now owns 1,733 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 914 shares during the last quarter. Bontempo Ohly Capital Mgmt LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.5% during the first quarter. Bontempo Ohly Capital Mgmt LLC now owns 104,913 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $4,759,000 after buying an additional 6,442 shares during the period. Modern Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.4% during the first quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 49,897 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $2,263,000 after buying an additional 6,676 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 27.2% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,084,780 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $48,748,000 after purchasing an additional 231,671 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 5.4% during the first quarter. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL now owns 25,567 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,160,000 after purchasing an additional 1,315 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of VZ stock opened at $42.96 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.29. Verizon Communications has a fifty-two week low of $37.59 and a fifty-two week high of $47.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $181.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.38, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. The business had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.31%. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is 64.52%.

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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