Verizon Communications - VZ Stock Forecast, Price & News

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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the stock. William Blair reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday, April 25th. StockNews.com raised Verizon Communications from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Verizon Communications from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $61.00 to $55.00 in a report on Monday, April 25th. Barclays downgraded Verizon Communications from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $56.50.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $44.84 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.76. The company has a 50-day moving average of $49.13 and a 200-day moving average of $50.87. Verizon Communications has a 52 week low of $43.76 and a 52 week high of $56.20. The company has a market capitalization of $188.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.99, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.33.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.32 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 26.95% and a net margin of 15.48%. The business had revenue of $33.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.37 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications will post 5.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 8th were issued a $0.64 dividend. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 7th. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is 51.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Craig L. Silliman sold 1,558 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $77,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,519 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,825,950. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 4,674 shares of company stock worth $237,377 in the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.