Telefonica SA (NYSE:TEF) Receives Average Rating of “Reduce” from Analysts

Telefonica SA (NYSE:TEF) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” by the six ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating on the company.

TEF has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised Telefonica from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Telefonica in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Berenberg Bank raised Telefonica to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, DZ Bank downgraded Telefonica from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th.

Telefonica Stock Down 0.8%

TEF opened at $5.29 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.00 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.92, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.46. Telefonica has a 12 month low of $3.89 and a 12 month high of $5.48.

Telefonica (NYSE:TEF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.08. The business had revenue of $9.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.06 billion. Telefonica had a positive return on equity of 9.30% and a negative net margin of 4.52%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Telefonica will post 0.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Telefonica Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be paid a $0.1703 dividend. This is an increase from Telefonica’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.16. This represents a yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 18th. Telefonica’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -63.16%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Telefonica

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in Telefonica by 0.5% during 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 in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in Telefonica by 71.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Gitterman Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Telefonica by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Gitterman Wealth Management LLC now owns 41,311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $166,000 after buying an additional 3,246 shares in the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its position in Telefonica by 50.4% during the first quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 10,031 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 3,361 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC increased its position in Telefonica by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC now owns 391,277 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,573,000 after buying an additional 3,500 shares in the last quarter. 1.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.