Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Stock Price Down 0.6%

Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) traded down 0.6% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $38.94 and last traded at $38.97. 2,656,126 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 19,914,582 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.20.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on VZ. StockNews.com upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Barclays upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.6 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.71. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $40.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.74. The company has a market cap of $163.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The business had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.20 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.83%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 99.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Verizon Communications

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Simon Quick Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.4% in the third quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 16,999 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $551,000 after purchasing an additional 2,266 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Inc. OK raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.8% during the third quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 641,118 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $20,779,000 after purchasing an additional 17,700 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.9% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 325,373 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $10,545,000 after acquiring an additional 21,026 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 41.0% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 107,934 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,498,000 after acquiring an additional 31,378 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Iowa State Bank grew its position in Verizon Communications by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Iowa State Bank now owns 38,476 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,247,000 after buying an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

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).