Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Shares Up 1.1% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) traded up 1.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $41.50 and last traded at $41.4690. 24,044,145 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 7% from the average session volume of 22,495,846 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.01.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Wall Street Zen cut Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The firm has a market cap of $174.85 billion, a PE ratio of 8.86, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $33.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 14.43%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.19 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th were given a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.7%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.97%.

Institutional Trading of Verizon Communications

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter worth about $25,000. Advantage Trust Co boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 549.5% during the second quarter. Advantage Trust Co now owns 591 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 95.3% during the 3rd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 625 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. 1 North Wealth Services LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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).