Company Update (NYSE:VZ): Verizon makes its case to advertisers that AOL matters

[at CNBC] – Verizon pronounced its commitment to growing its media business and becoming a content network through the AOL/go90s NewFront presentation. Read more on this. Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) , currently valued at $207.24B, started trading this morning at $50.48. During today’s session, VZ traded between $50.20 to $50.99 with the price of the stock fluctuating between $38.06 to $54.49 over the last 52 weeks. Priced at 12.80x this year’s forecasted earnings, VZ shares are relatively inexpensive compared to the industry’s 18.71x forward p/e ratio. And for passive income investors, the company pays shareholders $2.26 per share annually in dividends, yielding 4.44%. In a review of the consensus earnings estimate this quarter, 23 sell-side analysts are looking at $0.99 per share, which would be $0.05 worse than the year-ago quarter and a $0.04 sequential decrease. The full-year EPS estimate is $3.96 which would be a $0.03 worse than last year’s full-year earnings. The quarterly earnings estimate is predicated on a consensus revenue forecast of $31.26 Billion. If reported, that would be a 2.98% decrease over the year-ago quarter. In terms of ratings, Bernstein downgraded VZ from Outperform to Mkt Perform (Apr 7, 2016). Previously, Jefferies downgraded VZ from Buy to Hold. When considering if the stock is under or overvalued, the average price target is $52.30, which is 3.61% above where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NYSE:VZ) Similar Articles: Company Update: Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) – How Did Verizon’s Wireline Segment Contribute in 1Q16? Company Update: Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) – Analysts’ Recommendations for Verizon Company Update: Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) – Verizon Wireless to pay $1.35 million fine to settle U.S. privacy probe