Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Shares Down 3.7%

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) traded down 3.7% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $38.85 and last traded at $39.00. 17,871,826 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 10% from the average session volume of 19,754,693 shares. The stock had previously closed at $40.49.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on VZ shares. Redburn Atlantic raised Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Wolfe Research upgraded Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.38, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.69.

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

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 96.38%.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 35.9% in the 1st quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 14,225 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $571,000 after acquiring an additional 3,760 shares during the period. Bell Bank grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.0% in the first quarter. Bell Bank now owns 181,433 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $7,613,000 after purchasing an additional 5,249 shares during the last quarter. Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at $227,000. Busey Bank raised its position in Verizon Communications by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Busey Bank now owns 61,083 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,563,000 after purchasing an additional 1,570 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Precedent Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 22.9% during the 1st quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,179 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $469,000 after buying an additional 2,082 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

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).