Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Friday morning.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Raymond James raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.5 %

VZ opened at $43.15 on Friday. Verizon Communications has a one year low of $36.46 and a one year high of $45.36. The company has a market cap of $181.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.60, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.43. The business’s fifty day moving average is $42.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.22 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.4% during the second quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 283,160 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $11,678,000 after buying an additional 37,732 shares during the last quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,521 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $9,095,000 after acquiring an additional 17,855 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 2,058,443 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $92,445,000 after acquiring an additional 57,583 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,548,163,000 after purchasing an additional 5,936,009 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.7% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,954,357 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $222,500,000 after purchasing an additional 129,171 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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).