Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.03 EPS

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) announced its earnings results on Monday. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03, RTT News reports. The company had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.20 EPS. Verizon Communications updated its FY24 guidance to $4.50-$4.70 EPS and its FY 2024 guidance to 4.500-4.700 EPS.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $39.69 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $166.85 billion, a PE ratio of 14.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.41. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.44. Verizon Communications has a 1-year low of $30.14 and a 1-year high of $43.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.70%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 99.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VZ. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday. Wolfe Research raised Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.21.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.03% 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).