Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Upgraded by TD Cowen to “Strong-Buy” Rating

TD Cowen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on VZ. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. Finally, KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE VZ opened at $38.12 on Wednesday. Verizon Communications has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company has a market capitalization of $160.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.46. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $41.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.76.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Verizon Communications will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.11%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 116.81%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verizon Communications

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,015,000. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 41,924 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,729,000 after purchasing an additional 643 shares in the last quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 12.9% during the 2nd quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 26,212 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,081,000 after purchasing an additional 2,997 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.9% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 942,980 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $38,888,000 after purchasing an additional 84,973 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 67.4% during the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 642,324 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $26,489,000 after purchasing an additional 258,683 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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).