Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Issues FY24 Earnings Guidance

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) issued an update on its FY24 earnings guidance on Thursday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $4.50-4.70 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $4.58.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $41.15 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $173.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.35, a PEG ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.42. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.53. Verizon Communications has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $43.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. The business had revenue of $32.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.05 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.21 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications will post 4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.678 per share. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.59%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $45.66.

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).