Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Trading Down 0.5%

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)’s share price traded down 0.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $40.71 and last traded at $40.87. 5,466,212 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 18,772,193 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.08.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 4th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.77.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.5 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company has a market cap of $171.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.42. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.99.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The business had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.20 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.51%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 99.25%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verizon Communications

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Taylor Hoffman Wealth Management lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 32.9% in the fourth quarter. Taylor Hoffman Wealth Management now owns 9,353 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $353,000 after buying an additional 2,314 shares during the period. Leo Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,346,000. WealthTrust Axiom LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. WealthTrust Axiom LLC now owns 118,806 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,479,000 after buying an additional 2,422 shares during the period. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 127,632 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $5,131,000 after buying an additional 1,616 shares during the period. Finally, GFS Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $212,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

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).