Analysts Set Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Price Target at $46.37

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $46.37.

VZ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verizon Communications

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the third quarter worth about $31,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Accordant Advisory Group Inc grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of VZ opened at $43.85 on Tuesday. 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 has a one year low of $36.46 and a one year high of $45.36. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $42.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.70. The company has a market capitalization of $184.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.43.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.18%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 116.81%.

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).