Company Update: Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) – Bond investors hope AB InBev will wet their whistles

[Reuters – UK Focus] – Investors could easily soak up a US$60bn bond from AB InBev if the beer giant wants to sell that much debt this week to help fund its acquisition of rival brewer SABMiller (Xetra: BRW1.DE – news) . AB InBev could raise US$30bn-$60bn in funding – perhaps setting a new mark for the largest bond ever – and the deal is expected to be a blowout success. In addition to the liquidity inherent in such a massive bond – the current record is Verizon (NYSE: VZ – news) ‘s US$49bn trade from 2013 – many believe the company will meet its post-acquisition targets. Read more on this. Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) , currently valued at $181.06B, opened this morning at $45.14. Today, shares have traded between $44.49 and $45.27 per share with a trailing 52-week range being $38.06 to $50.86. VZ shares are currently priced at 11.32x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively inexpensive compared to the industry’s 23.45x earnings multiple for the same period. And for income investors, the company pays shareholders $2.26 per share annually in dividends, yielding 5.04%. According to a consensus of 26 analysts, the earnings estimate of $0.88 per share would be $0.17 better than the year-ago quarter and a $0.01 sequential increase. The full-year EPS estimate is $3.97 which would be a $0.62 improvement than last year’s full-year earnings. The quarterly earnings estimate is based on a consensus revenue forecast of the current quarter of $34.08 Billion. If realized, that would be a 2.68% increase over the year-ago quarter. More recently, Buckingham Research Initiated VZ at Neutral (Jul 2, 2015). Previously, JP Morgan downgraded VZ from Overweight to Neutral. When considering if the stock is under or overvalued, the average price target is $50.33, which is 11.50% above where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NYSE:VZ) Similar Articles: Company Update: Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) – Possible Initiation of Verizon’s Data Center Transaction Market Update: Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) – Verizon Communications (VZ) Stock Rises in Pre-Market Trading on New Network Offer Company Update: Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) – HBO Now available for Verizon broadband customers