First Trust Advisors LP Increases Position in Telefônica Brasil S.A. (NYSE:VIV)

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Telefônica Brasil S.A. (NYSE:VIV – Get Rating) by 148.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 935,150 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 559,422 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.06% of Telefônica Brasil worth $7,032,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Telefônica Brasil by 3.3% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,227,500 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $36,309,000 after purchasing an additional 103,931 shares during the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. grew its holdings in Telefônica Brasil by 6.8% in the second quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 3,135,455 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $28,407,000 after purchasing an additional 198,702 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC grew its holdings in shares of Telefônica Brasil by 104.0% during the second quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 1,463,600 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $13,260,000 after buying an additional 746,200 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Telefônica Brasil by 9.5% during the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,241,987 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $13,972,000 after buying an additional 107,499 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of Telefônica Brasil by 39.3% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,120,064 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $12,600,000 after buying an additional 316,126 shares during the last quarter. 6.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Telefônica Brasil from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 22nd. UBS Group upgraded shares of Telefônica Brasil from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Telefônica Brasil from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.67.

Telefônica Brasil Stock Performance

VIV opened at $7.34 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.62, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a fifty day moving average of $7.53 and a 200 day moving average of $7.58. Telefônica Brasil S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $6.49 and a fifty-two week high of $11.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.78.

Telefônica Brasil Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a — dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 2nd were issued a $0.0123 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 1st. This represents a dividend yield of 7.7%. Telefônica Brasil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.94%.

About Telefônica Brasil

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Telefônica Brasil SA, together with its subsidiaries, provides mobile and fixed telecommunications services to residential and corporate customers in Brazil. Its fixed line services portfolio includes local, domestic long-distance, and international long-distance calls; and mobile portfolio comprises voice and broadband internet access through 3G, 4G, 4.5G, and 5G as well as mobile value-added services and wireless roaming services.