Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Trading 0.1% Higher – Still a Buy?

Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) traded up 0.1% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $38.99 and last traded at $38.96. 22,820,763 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 4% from the average session volume of 23,830,014 shares. The stock had previously closed at $38.92.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on VZ. KeyCorp lowered Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 3.0 %

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $159.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.17%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 116.81%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verizon Communications

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,548,163,000 after purchasing an additional 5,936,009 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,824,245 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,289,054,000 after purchasing an additional 2,081,241 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.0% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 38,357,031 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,581,848,000 after purchasing an additional 1,106,887 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 35,561,841 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,466,446,000 after purchasing an additional 535,322 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,074,297 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,305,727,000 after purchasing an additional 565,842 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Company Profile

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).