Telefonica SA (NYSE:TEF) Receives Consensus Rating of “Reduce” from Brokerages

Telefonica SA (NYSE:TEF) has earned a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the five ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation and four have issued a hold recommendation on the company.

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on TEF shares. Berenberg Bank upgraded Telefonica to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. DZ Bank downgraded Telefonica from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Telefonica from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Telefonica

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stifel Financial Corp increased its holdings in Telefonica by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 464,198 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,866,000 after buying an additional 2,478 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in Telefonica by 71.6% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 6,236 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 2,603 shares during the last quarter. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Telefonica by 5.9% in the second quarter. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 47,394 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $248,000 after buying an additional 2,634 shares during the last quarter. Choreo LLC increased its holdings in Telefonica by 10.0% in the second quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 31,287 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $169,000 after buying an additional 2,834 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in Telefonica by 26.1% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 14,945 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 3,094 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 1.14% of the company’s stock.

Telefonica Price Performance

Shares of TEF opened at $5.4450 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $30.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.51. Telefonica has a fifty-two week low of $3.89 and a fifty-two week high of $5.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The business’s 50-day moving average is $5.32 and its 200-day moving average is $4.96.

Telefonica (NYSE:TEF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08. The company had revenue of $10.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.03 billion. Telefonica had a positive return on equity of 8.57% and a negative net margin of 5.88%. Equities research analysts expect that Telefonica will post 0.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Telefonica Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 18th were issued a $0.1703 dividend. This is an increase from Telefonica’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.16. This represents a yield of 450.0%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 18th. Telefonica’s dividend payout ratio is currently -52.08%.

About Telefonica

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.