Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Updates 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on VZ shares. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $48.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock traded down $0.35 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $39.14. The stock had a trading volume of 6,591,845 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,053,871. The business’s fifty day moving average is $40.51 and its 200-day moving average is $38.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The firm has a market cap of $164.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.63, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications has a 1-year low of $30.14 and a 1-year high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The firm had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.20 earnings per share. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.80%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 99.25%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

About Verizon Communications

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).