Royal Bank of Canada Cuts Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Price Target to $42.00

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) had its price target dropped by Royal Bank of Canada from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 5.85% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. UBS Group lifted their target price 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 assumed coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.33.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.3 %

Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.50 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $39.68. 17,049,790 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 23,784,742. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $167.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.46. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $40.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.63. Verizon Communications has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Verizon Communications will post 4.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verizon Communications

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VZ. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,548,163,000 after buying an additional 5,936,009 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4,520.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,815,534 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $216,266,000 after buying an additional 4,711,309 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at about $177,799,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 184.3% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,428,540 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $217,087,000 after acquiring an additional 3,519,258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 77.1% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,101,616 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $274,052,000 after acquiring an additional 2,656,396 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).