Telefonica SA (NYSE:TEF) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Strong Sell” from Brokerages

Telefonica SA (NYSE:TEF) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Strong Sell” by the nine brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $4.0150.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Telefonica in a report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Telefonica from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 24th. New Street Research lowered shares of Telefonica from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Citigroup lowered shares of Telefonica to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Kepler Capital Markets raised shares of Telefonica from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 5th.

Telefonica Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of Telefonica stock opened at $3.79 on Thursday. Telefonica has a fifty-two week low of $3.80 and a fifty-two week high of $5.72. The business’s fifty day moving average is $4.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $4.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. The firm has a market cap of $21.50 billion, a PE ratio of -9.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.26 and a beta of 0.29.

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

Telefonica Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 17th were paid a dividend of $0.1731 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 17th. This represents a yield of 856.0%. Telefonica’s payout ratio is -63.41%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Telefonica

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TEF. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Telefonica by 20.6% in the 1st 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. Carrera Capital Advisors bought a new position in Telefonica during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $5,440,000. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Telefonica by 394.3% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 921,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,683,000 after acquiring an additional 735,311 shares in the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC bought a new stake in shares of Telefonica in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,636,000. Finally, Mainstay Capital Management LLC ADV raised its position in shares of Telefonica by 99.5% during the 2nd quarter. Mainstay Capital Management LLC ADV now owns 780,285 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,081,000 after acquiring an additional 389,242 shares in the last quarter. 1.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Telefonica Company Profile

Telefónica, SA is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Madrid. Founded in 1924 as Compañía Telefónica Nacional de España, it has grown into one of the world’s largest telecommunications groups. Telefónica provides a broad range of communications services to residential and business customers, including mobile and fixed-line telephony, broadband internet, and pay-TV. The company also develops and sells network infrastructure and related services to support connectivity at scale.

Beyond traditional voice and data services, Telefónica has expanded into digital and IT services aimed at enterprise customers and public-sector clients.