Wall Street Zen Upgrades Telefonica (NYSE:TEF) to “Hold”

Telefonica (NYSE:TEF) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on shares of Telefonica in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $4.20 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Telefonica in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Telefonica to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Strong Sell” and an average target price of $4.20.

Telefonica Trading Up 2.7%

TEF opened at $4.19 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $4.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5.13. Telefonica has a 52 week low of $3.89 and a 52 week high of $5.72. The company has a market capitalization of $23.76 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.73, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

Telefonica (NYSE:TEF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $10.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9 billion. Telefonica had a negative net margin of 5.88% and a positive return on equity of 8.57%. Analysts forecast that Telefonica will post 0.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Telefonica

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Telefonica in the 3rd quarter valued at about $134,000. Verition Fund Management LLC increased its position in shares of Telefonica by 50.0% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 21,209 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $108,000 after acquiring an additional 7,067 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of Telefonica by 367.7% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,897 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 3,850 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Telefonica by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 92,970 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $472,000 after acquiring an additional 10,170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lido Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Telefonica in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $78,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 1.14% of the company’s stock.

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.