Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Trading Up 0.7% – Time to Buy?

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)’s stock price shot up 0.7% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $42.22 and last traded at $42.22. 1,632,885 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 91% from the average session volume of 18,479,725 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.93.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VZ. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. KeyCorp cut Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $178.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.43. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $42.93 and a 200-day moving average of $41.51.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.22 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.678 dividend. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verizon Communications

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of VZ. Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 118,777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,334,000 after acquiring an additional 725 shares during the last quarter. Tudor Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $611,000. Chelsea Counsel Co. grew its position in Verizon Communications by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. now owns 31,420 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,411,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd grew its position in Verizon Communications by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd now owns 758,019 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $33,850,000 after acquiring an additional 9,846 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SkyView Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,327 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $733,000 after acquiring an additional 819 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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).