American Century Companies Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Telefonica SA $TEF

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Telefonica SA by 4.1%, acquiring an additional 57,945 shares, and now owns a total of 1,487,510 shares worth approximately $6.93 million.
• Telefonica recently declared a semi-annual dividend of $0.1703 per share, increasing from the previous $0.16, giving a significant dividend yield of 450.0%.
• Despite positive revenue results of $10.28 billion, Telefonica has received mixed analyst ratings, with a consensus rating of "Reduce" and recent downgrades from DZ Bank.

American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Telefonica SA (NYSE:TEF - Free Report) by 4.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,487,510 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 57,945 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.'s holdings in Telefonica were worth $6,932,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in Telefonica by 84.1% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 52,068 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 23,787 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its stake in Telefonica by 30.2% in the first quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 88,383 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $412,000 after buying an additional 20,482 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Telefonica by 1.8% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 305,950 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,426,000 after buying an additional 5,480 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd raised its stake in Telefonica by 183.4% in the first quarter. R Squared Ltd now owns 43,220 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $201,000 after buying an additional 27,970 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Momentous Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Telefonica during the first quarter worth about $50,000. 1.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Telefonica Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE TEF traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $5.37. 807,701 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 609,955. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. Telefonica SA has a 1 year low of $3.89 and a 1 year high of $5.72. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $5.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $5.01. The stock has a market cap of $30.42 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.18, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.56.

Telefonica (NYSE:TEF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.08. Telefonica had a positive return on equity of 8.57% and a negative net margin of 5.88%.The firm had revenue of $10.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.03 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Telefonica SA will post 0.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on TEF. DZ Bank lowered Telefonica from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Berenberg Bank raised Telefonica to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Telefonica from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Reduce".

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.