Telefonica's (TEF) Sell (D) Rating Reaffirmed at Weiss Ratings

Key Points

• Telefonica's stock has been reaffirmed with a "sell (d)" rating by Weiss Ratings, despite Berenberg Bank upgrading it to a "hold" rating.
• The company's shares recently traded at $5.01, with a 52-week range between $3.89 and $5.72, and it has a consensus rating of "Reduce" from analysts.
• Recent institutional trading activity shows significant growth, with Goldman Sachs increasing its position in Telefonica by 20.6% in the first quarter.

Telefonica (NYSE:TEF - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "sell (d)" rating reaffirmed by Weiss Ratings in a research report issued on Wednesday,Weiss Ratings reports.

Separately, Berenberg Bank upgraded Telefonica to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Reduce".

Telefonica Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TEF traded up $0.03 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $5.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 591,086 shares, compared to its average volume of 727,534. Telefonica has a fifty-two week low of $3.89 and a fifty-two week high of $5.72. The company has a market capitalization of $28.41 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.44, a P/E/G ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 0.49. 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 business's fifty day simple moving average is $5.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.13.

Telefonica (NYSE:TEF - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 analysts' expectations of $9.03 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Telefonica will post 0.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Telefonica

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of TEF. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Telefonica by 20.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,243,236 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $29,093,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065,861 shares in the last quarter. Carrera Capital Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Telefonica in the second quarter valued at $5,440,000. Mainstay Capital Management LLC ADV grew its position in shares of Telefonica by 99.5% in the second quarter. Mainstay Capital Management LLC ADV now owns 780,285 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,081,000 after purchasing an additional 389,242 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Telefonica by 2,896.4% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 302,281 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,581,000 after purchasing an additional 292,193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Telefonica by 17.8% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,752,600 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $9,166,000 after purchasing an additional 265,090 shares in the last quarter. 1.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.

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