Verizon Communications Inc. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.68 (NYSE:VZ)

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, June 6th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.6775 per share by the cell phone carrier on Friday, August 1st. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.22%.

Verizon Communications has a dividend payout ratio of 56.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Verizon Communications to earn $4.86 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.71 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 55.8%.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

VZ traded up $0.30 during trading on Friday, reaching $43.60. 1,979,532 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,960,569. The stock has a market cap of $183.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.52, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $43.47 and a 200 day moving average of $42.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Verizon Communications has a 52 week low of $37.59 and a 52 week high of $47.36.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $33.31 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research cut Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $47.41.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total value of $396,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 10,008 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $441,352.80. The trade was a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Verizon Communications stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 61.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after buying an additional 16,704 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,759,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Hedge funds and other 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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