Verizon Communications Inc., through its subsidiaries, offers communications, technology, information, and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses, and governmental entities worldwide. Its Consumer segment provides postpaid and prepaid service plans; internet access on notebook computers and tablets; wireless equipment, including smartphones and other handsets; and wireless-enabled internet devices, such as tablets, and other wireless-enabled connected devices comprising smart watches. It also provides residential fixed connectivity solutions, such as internet, video, and voice services; and sells network access to mobile virtual network operators. As of December 31, 2021, it had approximately 115 million wireless retail connections, 7 million wireline broadband connections, and 4 million Fios video connections. The company's Business segment provides network connectivity products, including private networking, private cloud connectivity, virtual and software defined networking, and internet access services; and internet protocol-based voice and video services, unified communications and collaboration tools, and customer contact center solutions. This segment also offers a suite of management and data security services; domestic and global voice and data solutions, such as voice calling, messaging services, conferencing, contact center solutions, and private line and data access networks; customer premises equipment; installation, maintenance, and site services; and Internet of Things products and services. As of December 31, 2021, it had approximately 27 million wireless retail postpaid connections and 477 thousand wireline broadband connections. The company was formerly known as Bell Atlantic Corporation and changed its name to Verizon Communications Inc. in June 2000. Verizon Communications Inc. was incorporated in 1983 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of research firms have recently issued reports on VZ. Wolfe Research reduced their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $60.00 to $51.00 and set a "peer perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 2nd. William Blair reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Monday, April 25th. Barclays downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 22nd. Cowen cut their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $71.00 to $64.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 25th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $55.68.
Verizon Communications Stock Down 2.5 %
Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $44.19 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $185.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.86, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.76. Verizon Communications has a one year low of $43.76 and a one year high of $55.71. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $48.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $50.53.
Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.32 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $33.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $33.77 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 15.48% and a return on equity of 26.95%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.37 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Verizon Communications will post 5.2 earnings per share for the current year.
Verizon Communications Announces Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 8th were issued a $0.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 7th. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.79%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is presently 51.30%.
Insider Activity
In other news, EVP Craig L. Silliman sold 1,558 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $77,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 36,519 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,825,950. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold 4,674 shares of company stock worth $237,377 in the last 90 days. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
