Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.04 EPS

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) issued its earnings results on Monday. The cell phone carrier reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.04, FiscalAI reports. The business had revenue of $34.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.77 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 11.64%.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $44.59 on Monday. Verizon Communications has a 1 year low of $38.54 and a 1 year high of $51.68. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $47.57 and a 200-day moving average of $46.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $185.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.26.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 9th will be paid a $0.7075 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 9th. This represents a $2.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.3%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 73.70%.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.48, for a total transaction of $48,928.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 99,966 shares in the company, valued at $4,446,487.68. This represents a 1.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 9,900 shares of company stock valued at $469,073. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Key Verizon Communications News

Here are the key news stories impacting Verizon Communications this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Verizon reported quarterly adjusted EPS of $1.31, exceeding analysts’ $1.27 estimate. The company also raised its full-year outlook for postpaid phone additions, adjusted EPS and free cash flow, signaling continued operating momentum. Verizon Lifts Outlook, Inks Amazon Deal Worth More Than $2 Billion
• Positive Sentiment: Third-quarter operating revenue rose 1.5% year over year to approximately $34.3 billion, while net income increased 5.2% to $5.3 billion. Verizon added 406,000 postpaid phone customers, 137,000 postpaid accounts and 314,000 broadband customers, including growth in fixed wireless and fiber. Verizon Q3 Revenue Reaches $34.3 Billion as Net Income Rises 5.2%
• Positive Sentiment: Verizon signed an agreement valued at more than $2 billion with Amazon Web Services to provide distributed computing capacity for artificial-intelligence workloads. Operating cash flow reached $11.5 billion and free cash flow totaled $7.8 billion, supporting the company’s dividend and investment plans. Verizon Lifts Outlook, Inks Amazon Deal Worth More Than $2 Billion
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor attention remains focused on the Federal Reserve and interest rates. Higher yields can make Verizon’s income-oriented shares less attractive, while potential rate cuts could improve the appeal of its dividend.
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue of $34.31 billion fell short of the $34.77 billion consensus forecast, tempering the impact of the EPS beat.
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that SpaceX is seeking access to at least 80,000 U.S. cell sites to build a nationwide mobile network raise concerns about future pricing pressure, customer losses and higher competitive spending for Verizon and other carriers. AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile warn FCC as SpaceX plots a phone network

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on VZ. Barclays boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane reduced their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.80.

Verizon Communications Company Profile

Verizon Communications Inc is a telecommunications company that provides wireless communications, broadband, and digital connectivity services. Through its consumer business, Verizon offers mobile voice and data plans, smartphones and other connected devices, home internet, fixed wireless access, and fiber-optic broadband services under the Fios brand.

Verizon also serves businesses, government agencies, and other organizations with wireless connectivity, private networks, internet and data services, managed communications, cloud and security solutions, and Internet of Things services.