Wells Fargo & Company Trims Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Target Price to $40.00

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) had its price target trimmed by Wells Fargo & Company from $44.00 to $40.00 in a report released on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the cell phone carrier’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on VZ. Oppenheimer reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $48.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday. Wolfe Research upgraded Verizon Communications from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $46.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Barclays upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Verizon Communications from a sell rating to a neutral rating and upped their target price for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock opened at $39.69 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. Verizon Communications has a one year low of $30.14 and a one year high of $43.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $166.85 billion, a PE ratio of 14.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $40.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.44.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.20 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Verizon Communications will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.70%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 96.38%.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at $2,387,576.33. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ziegler Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.0% in the third quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC now owns 67,895 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,200,000 after buying an additional 3,241 shares during the last quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at about $201,000. BTC Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.8% in the third quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 44,695 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,449,000 after buying an additional 3,242 shares during the last quarter. Argus Investors Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.5% in the third quarter. Argus Investors Counsel Inc. now owns 37,785 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,225,000 after buying an additional 2,320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CreativeOne Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 40.9% in the third quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 76,215 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,470,000 after buying an additional 22,126 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Company Profile

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).