Telefonica SA (NYSE:TEF) Receives Consensus Rating of "Reduce" from Analysts

Key Points

• Telefonica SA has received a consensus rating of "Reduce" from analysts, with one sell and four hold recommendations.
• Telefonica recently increased its semi-annual dividend to $0.1703, up from $0.16, representing a yield of 450.0%.
• The company's most recent earnings report showed profits of $0.08 per share and revenue of $10.28 billion, surpassing analyst expectations.

Telefonica SA (NYSE:TEF - Get Free Report) has received a consensus rating of "Reduce" from the five analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating on the company.

A number of brokerages have weighed in on TEF. Wall Street Zen raised Telefonica from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Berenberg Bank raised Telefonica to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, DZ Bank downgraded Telefonica from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in shares of Telefonica 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 acquiring an additional 2,603 shares in the last quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new position in shares of Telefonica in the 2nd quarter worth about $44,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Telefonica by 50.4% in the 1st quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 10,031 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 3,361 shares in the last quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. bought a new position in shares of Telefonica in the 2nd quarter worth about $53,000. Finally, AlphaCore Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Telefonica in the 2nd quarter worth about $55,000. 1.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Telefonica Price Performance

Telefonica stock traded up $0.02 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $5.36. 506,807 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 682,638. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $5.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.98. Telefonica has a 12 month low of $3.89 and a 12 month high of $5.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market cap of $30.36 billion, a PE ratio of -11.16, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.51.

Telefonica (NYSE:TEF - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.08 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. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Telefonica will post 0.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Telefonica Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th were given a $0.1703 dividend. This is a boost from Telefonica's previous semi-annual dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a dividend yield of 450.0%. Telefonica's dividend payout ratio is -52.08%.

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.