Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Trading Up 0.7% – Should You Buy?

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)’s share price was up 0.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $40.78 and last traded at $40.83. Approximately 2,925,608 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 23,313,760 shares. The stock had previously closed at $40.53.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on VZ. Wolfe Research upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $172.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.91, a P/E/G ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.45. The business has a 50-day moving average of $39.99 and a 200-day moving average of $41.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.60%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 65.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total value of $319,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,590 shares in the company, valued at $262,809.20. This represents a 54.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold 39,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,582,995 over the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its position in Verizon Communications by 58.0% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,756,452 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $78,975,000 after buying an additional 644,761 shares in the last quarter. Alpha Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at about $224,000. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 861,988 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $38,712,000 after buying an additional 23,696 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,174,541 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $232,389,000 after buying an additional 39,403 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc. now owns 5,913 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $266,000 after buying an additional 560 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% 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).