Telefonica (NYSE:TEF) Stock Crosses Below 50 Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Telefonica SA (NYSE:TEF) passed below its 50 day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 50 day moving average of $4.03 and traded as low as $3.80. Telefonica shares last traded at $3.7910, with a volume of 3,285,173 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on TEF. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Telefonica in a report on Monday, December 29th. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Telefonica to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and set a $3.83 target price on shares of Telefonica in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. New Street Research downgraded shares of Telefonica from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Kepler Capital Markets raised Telefonica from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Telefonica presently has a consensus rating of “Strong Sell” and a consensus price target of $4.02.

Telefonica Stock Down 1.5%

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 company has a market capitalization of $21.50 billion, a PE ratio of -9.25, a PEG ratio of 0.26 and a beta of 0.29. The company’s 50 day moving average is $4.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $4.74.

Telefonica (NYSE:TEF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $10.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9 billion. Telefonica had a negative net margin of 5.23% and a positive return on equity of 8.54%. On average, analysts anticipate that Telefonica SA 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 dividend payout ratio is presently -63.41%.

Institutional Trading of Telefonica

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TEF. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in shares of Telefonica by 367.7% during 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 last quarter. Tranquilli Financial Advisor LLC purchased a new stake in Telefonica during the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. Momentous Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Telefonica during the third quarter valued at $51,000. Wrapmanager Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Telefonica in the 2nd quarter worth $53,000. Finally, AlphaCore Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Telefonica in the 2nd quarter worth about $55,000. 1.14% of the stock is 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.