Verizon Communications’ (VZ) Outperform Rating Reaffirmed at Oppenheimer

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at Oppenheimer in a report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $48.00 price objective on the cell phone carrier’s stock. Oppenheimer’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 24.29% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the stock. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.50.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 4.6 %

VZ opened at $38.62 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $162.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.99, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications has a one year low of $30.14 and a one year high of $43.42. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.38. 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 (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.71% and a net margin of 8.67%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.20 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Verizon Communications will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Verizon Communications

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VZ. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 627.8% during the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 130.1% during the 4th quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HBC Financial Services PLLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 320.0% during the 3rd quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 1,050 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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).