Verizon Communications Inc. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.67 (NYSE:VZ)

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, June 5th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be given a dividend of 0.665 per share by the cell phone carrier on Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.40%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th.

Verizon Communications has raised its dividend payment by an average of 2.0% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 19 years. Verizon Communications has a payout ratio of 56.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Verizon Communications to earn $4.71 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.66 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 56.5%.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $41.54 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $174.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.41. 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 0.67. The business has a 50-day moving average of $40.29 and a 200-day moving average of $40.22.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The business had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.20 earnings per share. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.14.

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).