Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Releases FY24 Earnings Guidance

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) updated its FY24 earnings guidance on Tuesday. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $4.50-4.70 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.59.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on VZ shares. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE VZ traded down $1.04 on Thursday, reaching $41.82. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,670,845 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,501,445. The firm has a market cap of $176.03 billion, a PE ratio of 16.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Verizon Communications has a 52 week low of $33.34 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $43.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.29.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $0.678 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.48%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 101.12%.

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).