Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Shares Up 2.1% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) rose 2.1% on Friday after Scotiabank raised their price target on the stock from $50.50 to $51.00. Scotiabank currently has a sector perform rating on the stock. Verizon Communications traded as high as $39.96 and last traded at $39.7660. Approximately 51,972,809 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 134% from the average daily volume of 22,220,920 shares. The stock had previously closed at $38.96.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. BNP Paribas Exane lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.41.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verizon Communications

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 372,787,016 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $16,130,494,000 after acquiring an additional 4,615,075 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 208,213,255 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $9,009,388,000 after acquiring an additional 4,205,449 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 109,866,405 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,983,225,000 after acquiring an additional 1,172,175 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 100,326,792 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,322,700,000 after acquiring an additional 1,101,504 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,504,150,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $167.67 billion, a PE ratio of 8.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $42.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.84.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.69 per share. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.9%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 58.97%.

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).