Telefónica, S.A. (NYSE:TEF) Receives Average Rating of "Reduce" from Brokerages

Telefónica, S.A. (NYSE:TEF - Get Free Report) has received an average rating of "Reduce" from the seven research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and five have assigned a hold recommendation to the company.

A number of research analysts recently commented on TEF shares. DZ Bank lowered shares of Telefónica from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Telefónica from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Telefónica in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a "market perform" rating on the stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Stifel Financial Corp grew its stake in Telefónica by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 464,198 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,866,000 after acquiring an additional 2,478 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its holdings in shares of Telefónica by 71.6% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 6,236 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 2,603 shares in the last quarter. Gitterman Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Telefónica by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Gitterman Wealth Management LLC now owns 41,311 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $166,000 after purchasing an additional 3,246 shares during the period. Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its stake in Telefónica by 50.4% during the 1st quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 10,031 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 3,361 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Telefónica by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC now owns 391,277 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,573,000 after purchasing an additional 3,500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 1.14% of the company's stock.

Telefónica Stock Down 0.5%

TEF traded down $0.03 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $5.24. The company had a trading volume of 471,291 shares, compared to its average volume of 690,467. The company has a market capitalization of $29.68 billion, a PE ratio of -20.13 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. Telefónica has a one year low of $3.89 and a one year high of $5.37. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $4.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $4.53.

Telefónica (NYSE:TEF - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.08. Telefónica had a positive return on equity of 10.10% and a negative net margin of 2.84%. The business had revenue of $9.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.06 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Telefónica will post 0.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Telefónica Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be issued a $0.1703 dividend. This is a positive change from Telefónica's previous semi-annual dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a yield of 4.5%. Telefónica's payout ratio is presently -63.16%.

Telefónica Company Profile

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.