Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Trading Down 0.5% - What's Next?

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report)'s share price was down 0.5% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $41.25 and last traded at $42.82. Approximately 13,469,588 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 32% from the average daily volume of 19,717,979 shares. The stock had previously closed at $43.03.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $45.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Tigress Financial restated a "buy" rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Argus upgraded Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $46.92.

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Verizon Communications Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $184.58 billion, a PE ratio of 10.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $42.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.05.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 6.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares of the company's stock, valued at $633,159.61. This trade represents a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $810,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,675 shares in the company, valued at $1,851,664.50. This represents a 30.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895 in the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Verizon Communications

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,300,846,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,083,337,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3,601.6% during the fourth quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 8,937,180 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $357,398,000 after acquiring an additional 8,695,736 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 108,694,230 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $4,346,682,000 after acquiring an additional 7,421,148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 52.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 19,828,378 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $792,937,000 after acquiring an additional 6,846,514 shares during the period. 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).