Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Stock Price Up 0.8% – Time to Buy?

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) shot up 0.8% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $43.04 and last traded at $42.54. 8,644,205 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 57% from the average session volume of 19,962,276 shares. The stock had previously closed at $42.21.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the topic of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $48.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.92.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.8 %

The stock has a market cap of $183.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.55, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.20%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 65.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total value of $437,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at $633,159.61. The trade was a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total transaction of $319,040.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $262,809.20. The trade was a 54.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verizon Communications

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Perkins Coie Trust Co boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 74.9% in the 1st quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co now owns 2,979 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $135,000 after purchasing an additional 1,276 shares during the period. WealthBridge Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.4% in the first quarter. WealthBridge Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 131,800 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $5,978,000 after acquiring an additional 550 shares during the period. Persium Advisors LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 5.9% during the first quarter. Persium Advisors LLC now owns 17,337 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $786,000 after acquiring an additional 968 shares during the period. Compton Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter worth about $203,000. Finally, Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 233.7% in the 1st quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 808,899 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $36,692,000 after purchasing an additional 566,510 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).