Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) To Go Ex-Dividend on January 10th

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 5th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.6775 per share by the cell phone carrier on Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th.

Verizon Communications has raised its dividend payment by an average of 1.9% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 20 years. Verizon Communications has a dividend payout ratio of 55.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Verizon Communications to earn $4.74 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 57.2%.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $38.92 on Wednesday. Verizon Communications has a 52-week low of $37.56 and a 52-week high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $163.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $41.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.85.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.22 EPS. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. KeyCorp lowered Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. StockNews.com lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.54.

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).