Telefonica SA (NYSE:TEF) Receives Average Rating of “Strong Sell” from Brokerages

Shares of Telefonica SA (NYSE:TEF) have earned a consensus rating of “Strong Sell” from the ten ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $4.0150.

TEF has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $3.83 target price on shares of Telefonica in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Telefonica from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Kepler Capital Markets raised shares of Telefonica from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Telefonica to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, New Street Research lowered Telefonica from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th.

Telefonica Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of TEF stock opened at $3.96 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $22.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.28 and a beta of 0.29. Telefonica has a 12-month low of $3.89 and a 12-month high of $5.72. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $4.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $4.88.

Telefonica (NYSE:TEF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $9 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Telefonica will post 0.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Telefonica Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 17th will be issued a $0.1731 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 17th. This represents a dividend yield of 856.0%. Telefonica’s payout ratio is -60.98%.

Institutional Trading of Telefonica

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Telefonica by 20.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,243,236 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,093,000 after buying an additional 1,065,861 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Telefonica by 17.8% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,752,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,166,000 after acquiring an additional 265,090 shares during the last quarter. Carrera Capital Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Telefonica by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Carrera Capital Advisors now owns 1,068,090 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,426,000 after purchasing an additional 60,924 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in Telefonica by 394.3% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 921,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,683,000 after purchasing an additional 735,311 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mainstay Capital Management LLC ADV raised its position in Telefonica by 99.5% in the 2nd quarter. Mainstay Capital Management LLC ADV now owns 780,285 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,081,000 after purchasing an additional 389,242 shares during the period. 1.14% of the stock is currently owned by 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.