Telefonica SA (NYSE:TEF) Receives $4.02 Average PT from Analysts

Shares of Telefonica SA (NYSE:TEF) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Strong Sell” from the nine analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Five 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 target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $4.0150.

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Kepler Capital Markets raised shares of Telefonica from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. New Street Research cut Telefonica from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Telefonica to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $3.83 target price on shares of Telefonica in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Citigroup cut Telefonica to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 1st.

Telefonica Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of Telefonica stock opened at $3.79 on Thursday. Telefonica has a 1-year low of $3.80 and a 1-year high of $5.72. The stock has a market cap of $21.50 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.26 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $4.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4.71.

Telefonica (NYSE:TEF) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.11 earnings per share (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 predict that Telefonica will post 0.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Telefonica Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in Telefonica by 367.7% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,897 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 3,850 shares in the last quarter. Tranquilli Financial Advisor LLC purchased a new stake in Telefonica during the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Momentous Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Telefonica during the third quarter worth about $51,000. Wrapmanager Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Telefonica in the second quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, AlphaCore Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Telefonica in the second quarter valued at approximately $55,000. 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.