Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Cut to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Monday.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. KeyCorp cut Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Raymond James lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.46.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE:VZ opened at $40.24 on Monday. Verizon Communications has a 1 year low of $37.15 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $42.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.89. 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 company has a market cap of $169.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.44.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Verizon Communications will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.73%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

Institutional Trading of Verizon Communications

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL now owns 22,152 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $995,000 after purchasing an additional 1,212 shares during the last quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 26.7% during the third quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 20,160 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $905,000 after purchasing an additional 4,243 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 21.4% during the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 75,559 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,393,000 after buying an additional 13,319 shares during the last quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 76.7% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 20,007 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $899,000 after buying an additional 8,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp raised its position in Verizon Communications by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 364,181 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $16,356,000 after buying an additional 30,316 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).