Investors Buy High Volume of Verizon Communications Call Options (NYSE:VZ)

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 76,237 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 43% compared to the typical daily volume of 53,363 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on VZ. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.78.

Institutional Trading of Verizon Communications

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VZ. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,760 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $732,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.4% during the second quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 54,926 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,240,000 after buying an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.2% in the second quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC now owns 21,568 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $889,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.0% in the second quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 5,383 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $222,000 after buying an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Portfolio Partners LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Private Portfolio Partners LLC now owns 27,457 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,035,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ traded down $0.86 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $40.04. The stock had a trading volume of 17,388,414 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,740,605. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.63. Verizon Communications has a 12-month low of $30.14 and a 12-month high of $43.42. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $40.65 and a 200-day moving average of $40.49. The company has a market capitalization of $168.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.15. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The firm had revenue of $32.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.21 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.64%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 99.25%.

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).