Telefónica, S.A. (NYSE:TEF) Given Average Recommendation of “Reduce” by Brokerages

Shares of Telefónica, S.A. (NYSE:TEF) have received a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the seven brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and five have given a hold recommendation to the company.

TEF has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Telefónica in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. DZ Bank downgraded Telefónica from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Telefónica from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd.

Telefónica Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE TEF opened at $5.28 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $4.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $4.53. The stock has a market cap of $29.91 billion, a P/E ratio of -20.29 and a beta of 0.46. Telefónica has a 52-week low of $3.89 and a 52-week high of $5.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.85.

Telefónica (NYSE:TEF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08. Telefónica had a positive return on equity of 10.10% and a negative net margin of 2.84%. The company had revenue of $9.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.06 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Telefónica will post 0.3 EPS for the current year.

Telefónica Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.1703 per share. This represents a yield of 4.5%. This is an increase from Telefónica’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 18th. Telefónica’s payout ratio is currently -63.16%.

Institutional Trading of Telefónica

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Telefónica by 20.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,243,236 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,093,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065,861 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Telefónica by 30.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,622,588 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,563,000 after buying an additional 851,581 shares during the last quarter. Drum Hill Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Telefónica in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,001,000. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Telefónica by 36.7% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 963,584 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,874,000 after acquiring an additional 258,489 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Telefónica during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,022,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 1.14% of the company’s stock.

About Telefónica

Telefónica, SA, together with its subsidiaries, provides telecommunications services in Europe and Latin America. The company offers mobile and related services and products, such as mobile voice, value added, mobile data and internet, wholesale, corporate, roaming, fixed wireless, and trunking and paging services.