Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Releases FY24 Earnings Guidance

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) updated its FY24 earnings guidance on Monday. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $4.50-$4.70 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $4.59. Verizon Communications also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 4.500-4.700 EPS.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock opened at $39.69 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.85 billion, a PE ratio of 14.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.41. The company’s 50-day moving average is $40.52 and its 200-day moving average is $38.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65. Verizon Communications has a 1 year low of $30.14 and a 1 year high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $33 billion for 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 firm’s revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.20 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 96.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on VZ shares. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, 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 research note on Thursday, January 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $44.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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).