Investors purchase a large number of Verizon Communications call options. (NYSE:VZ)

On Friday, some unusual activity involving the trading of options was directed toward Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ). As a result, investors purchased a combined total of 76,363 call options associated with the stock. This represents an increase of 32% when contrasted with the daily average volume of 57,826 call options that are traded.

On Friday, October 21st, the most recent quarterly earnings report for Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) was made public for the investing community to view. The mobile phone operator reported that its earnings per share (EPS) for the period covered by the report came in at $1.32, which was $0.04 higher than the average projection of $1.28. The 14.22% net margin and 25.80% return on equity demonstrate that Verizon Communications had a successful performance. The revenue for the quarter came in significantly higher than the $33.79 billion analysts had anticipated, coming in at a total of $34.20 billion instead. The corporation generated earnings of $1.41 per share during the same period the year before when compared to the current year. Compared to the results achieved during the same quarter in the previous year, the quarterly increase in revenue was 4.0% higher than the prior year’s performance. Stock and share market analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications will generate $5.18 per share earnings during the current fiscal year.

In addition, the company just recently announced a quarterly dividend scheduled to be paid out on February 1st. Shareholders still registered as having ownership of their shares as of January 10th will be eligible to receive a $0.6525 dividend payment per share. Because of this, the dividend yield comes to 6.15 percent, and the annual dividend payment comes to 2.61 dollars. On January 9th, a decision will be made regarding whether or not this dividend will be distributed to shareholders. In the case of Verizon Communications, the payout percentage comes in at 56.62%.

On Friday, during the lunchtime session, the price of a share of VZ stock increased by $0.76, reaching a price of $42.46. The company transacted 965,394 shares, a significantly lower volume than the 24-hour moving average of 24,813,620 shares. There is a 1.50 debt-to-equity ratio, a 1.75 current ratio, and a 0.69 quick ratio. The current ratio is 0.75, and the quick ratio is 0.69. A beta of 0.37, a P/E ratio of 9.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96, and a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 is all company characteristics. Additionally, the market session on Friday saw the stock price reach a high of $42.46, and the company was valued at $178.32 billion. The company transacted 965,394 shares, a significantly lower volume than the 24-hour moving average of 24,813,620 shares. There is a 1.50 debt-to-equity ratio, a 1.75 current ratio, and a 0.69 quick ratio. The current ratio is 0.75, and the quick ratio is 0.69. A beta of 0.37, a P/E ratio of 9.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96, and a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 is all company characteristics. In addition, the market value of the company is $178.32 billion. The prices of the various services provided by Verizon Communications can range anywhere from $34.55 to $55.51 over a single year. The moving average price of the company over the previous 50 days is $38.22, and the moving average price over the previous 200 days is $41.76.

Many different research reports on VZ have been compiled over the years. In a research note published on Monday, October 24th, Cowen downgraded their “outperform” rating on Verizon Communications shares and dropped their price target on the stock from $64.00 to $55.00. Both of these moves were made about the stock’s price. Moffett Nathanson raised their rating for Verizon Communications from “underperform” to “market perform” and set their price objective for the company’s stock at $41.00 in a research report that was made public on Monday, December 19th. The research note that the Royal Bank of Canada published on Monday, October 24th, stated that they have decreased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $42.00 and have given the company a rating of “sector perform.” The note also stated that they gave the company a rating of “sector perform.” Credit Suisse Group announced that they would be lowering their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications to $43.00 on Thursday, October 27th. In a research report published on December 15th, Verizon Communications received an upgrade from “equal weight” to “overweight” status at Morgan Stanley, which resulted in the firm raising its price target from $41.00 to $44.00. Seven research analysts have recommended that investors buy the company’s stock, thirteen have suggested that investors maintain their current holdings, and a single analyst has suggested that investors sell the stock. According to Bloomberg.com, the stock is currently rated as having a consensus recommendation of “Hold,” and the consensus price objective for the stock is currently listed at $48.11.

During the previous few months, several hedge funds and other types of institutional investors modified the processes by which they invested in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased the proportion of Verizon Communications stock owned by 1.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now has 349,590,768 stock held by the mobile phone service provider after purchasing an additional 3,857,646 shares during the most recent fiscal quarter. The value of these shares is $13,273,960,000. During the third quarter, BlackRock Inc. increased the proportion of ownership it held in Verizon Communications by one-hundredth percent. BlackRock Inc. now owns 319,233,100 of the cell phone carrier’s shares after purchasing an additional 3,133,547 in the most recent quarter. This gives the company a market value of $12,121,282,000. During the third quarter, State Street Corporation achieved a 0.8% increase in the proportion of Verizon Communications stock it owned. The value of one share of the stock of the mobile phone carrier is currently $6,266,124,000. The State Street Corp. holds 165,028,281 shares of it in its inventory. This is a direct consequence of the successful completion of the acquisition of an additional 1,298.454 shares during the quarter before the current one. During the first three months of the year, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased the amount of Verizon Communications stock owned by 5.2%, bringing its total ownership percentage to 100%. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 59,782,122 shares of the stock held by the mobile phone carrier due to the purchase of an additional 2,934,928 shares during the most recent quarter. These shares are currently worth $3,045,303,000 at the current market price. And finally, during the first three months of this year, Capital World Investors increased the proportion of Verizon Communications stock owned by 7.7%. After making additional purchases during the past three months totaling 3,568,252 shares, Capital World Investors now owns a total of 49,879,143 shares of the mobile phone carrier’s stock, which have a value of $2,540,898,000. These shares were acquired due to Capital World Investors having made 3,568,252 purchases during the previous three months. Institutional investors and hedge funds have a combined stake in the company equal to 60.96% of its common shares.