Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the fourteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $43.40.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VZ. Edward Jones downgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $44.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Citigroup upgraded Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $39.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 20th. Finally, HSBC reduced their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.50 to $39.00 in a research note on Monday, June 5th.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $34.86 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.33. Verizon Communications has a 12-month low of $31.25 and a 12-month high of $42.85. The company has a market capitalization of $146.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 22.28% and a net margin of 15.58%. The business had revenue of $32.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.31 earnings per share. Verizon Communications’s revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications will post 4.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Samantha Hammock sold 12,557 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.29, for a total transaction of $418,022.53. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Verizon Communications

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VZ. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 95,391.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 136,655,301 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $5,082,211,000 after acquiring an additional 136,512,194 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 88,532.0% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 79,084,569 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,115,932,000 after purchasing an additional 78,995,341 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,829,675,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 255.9% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 48,058,216 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,893,493,000 after purchasing an additional 34,553,565 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 16.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 85,876,978 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,358,991,000 after purchasing an additional 12,189,613 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.06% of the company’s stock.

About Verizon Communications

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides 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).