Telefonica SA $TEF Shares Acquired by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Telefonica SA (NYSE:TEF) by 17.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,752,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 265,090 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Telefonica were worth $9,166,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Telefonica by 21.0% during the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 22,603 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $105,000 after buying an additional 3,924 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Telefonica by 1.8% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 305,950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,426,000 after acquiring an additional 5,480 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Telefonica by 30.2% in the first quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 88,383 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $412,000 after acquiring an additional 20,482 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Telefonica by 84.1% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 52,068 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $243,000 after purchasing an additional 23,787 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corient IA LLC acquired a new position in shares of Telefonica during the 1st quarter worth $163,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 1.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on TEF shares. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $3.83 price objective on shares of Telefonica in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup downgraded shares of Telefonica to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Telefonica in a research note on Monday. BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on Telefonica in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $4.20 price objective for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Telefonica from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Strong Sell” and an average target price of $4.02.

Telefonica Price Performance

NYSE:TEF opened at $4.18 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $23.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 0.27. Telefonica SA has a 12-month low of $3.89 and a 12-month high of $5.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. The company’s 50-day moving average is $4.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5.08.

Telefonica (NYSE:TEF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.02. Telefonica had a negative net margin of 5.23% and a positive return on equity of 8.54%. The business had revenue of $10.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9 billion. Research analysts expect that Telefonica SA will post 0.3 EPS for the current year.

Telefonica Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 17th will be given a $0.1731 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 17th. This represents a dividend yield of 827.0%. Telefonica’s payout ratio is currently -60.98%.

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.