Royal Bank of Canada Reiterates Sector Perform Rating for Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ)

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "sector perform" rating reissued by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $45.00 target price on the cell phone carrier's stock, up from their prior target price of $42.00. Royal Bank of Canada's price objective points to a potential upside of 3.54% from the company's previous close.

VZ has been the topic of a number of other research reports. UBS Group lifted their price target 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. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $48.00 target price on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen raised Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $46.71.

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Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded down $0.10 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $43.46. The stock had a trading volume of 21,480,936 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,358,512. The stock's 50 day moving average is $41.73 and its 200 day moving average is $42.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Verizon Communications has a twelve month low of $37.59 and a twelve month high of $47.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $182.95 billion, a PE ratio of 10.50, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 period last year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total transaction of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at $596,439.20. This trade represents a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total value of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Algert Global LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at $1,781,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 6,355 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $285,000 after buying an additional 408 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.2% during the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 46,871 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $2,105,000 after buying an additional 548 shares in the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.4% during the third quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 83,956 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $3,770,000 after buying an additional 374 shares during the period. Finally, Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $210,000. Hedge funds and other 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).