Scotiabank Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Stock

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) had its price target raised by equities research analysts at Scotiabank from $50.50 to $51.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “sector perform” rating on the cell phone carrier’s stock. Scotiabank’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 28.25% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on VZ. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. BNP Paribas downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Arete Research raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $39.77 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $167.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.74. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $42.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.84. Verizon Communications has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $47.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $33.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.19 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 14.43%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.19 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verizon Communications

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Advantage Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 549.5% during the 2nd quarter. Advantage Trust Co now owns 591 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 95.3% during the 3rd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 625 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. 1 North Wealth Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth $30,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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).