Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Releases FY 2024 Earnings Guidance

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) updated its FY 2024 earnings guidance on Monday. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of 4.500-4.700 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of 4.580. The company issued revenue guidance of -. Verizon Communications also updated its FY24 guidance to $4.50-$4.70 EPS.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on VZ. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Verizon Communications from a sell rating to a neutral rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $44.50.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $41.20 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $173.22 billion, a PE ratio of 14.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $40.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.33. Verizon Communications has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.71% and a net margin of 8.67%. The company had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.20 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.46%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 96.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verizon Communications

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 88,532.0% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 79,084,569 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,115,932,000 after purchasing an additional 78,995,341 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 21.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 67,976,459 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,678,273,000 after purchasing an additional 11,987,691 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 59,782,122 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,045,303,000 after purchasing an additional 2,934,928 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,829,675,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 25.8% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 37,483,223 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,413,117,000 after purchasing an additional 7,698,132 shares during the period. 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).