Telefonica Brasil S.A. (NYSE:VIV) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” from Analysts

Telefonica Brasil S.A. (NYSE:VIV) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the eleven analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $14.26.

A number of research firms have commented on VIV. Zacks Research lowered Telefonica Brasil from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Telefonica Brasil from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Telefonica Brasil from $15.70 to $15.40 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Bradesco Corretora downgraded Telefonica Brasil to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Telefonica Brasil from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th.

Institutional Trading of Telefonica Brasil

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its position in shares of Telefonica Brasil by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 17,145,564 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $203,346,000 after buying an additional 145,449 shares during the last quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new stake in Telefonica Brasil in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,211,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Telefonica Brasil during the fourth quarter valued at about $446,000. Barometer Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Telefonica Brasil during the first quarter valued at about $1,277,000. Finally, Opal Capital LLC bought a new position in Telefonica Brasil during the first quarter worth about $4,255,000. 5.16% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Telefonica Brasil Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of VIV opened at $12.87 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $13.35 and a 200-day moving average of $14.58. Telefonica Brasil has a 52 week low of $11.02 and a 52 week high of $17.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.50, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Telefonica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.23 by ($0.04). Telefonica Brasil had a return on equity of 9.72% and a net margin of 10.64%.The firm had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.04 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Telefonica Brasil will post 0.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Telefonica Brasil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 21st. Investors of record on Friday, May 22nd were paid a $0.4562 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 22nd. Telefonica Brasil’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.92%.

Telefonica Brasil Company Profile

Telefônica Brasil SA, commonly marketed under the Vivo brand, is one of Brazil’s largest telecommunications providers, offering a broad range of consumer and enterprise communications services. The company’s core activities include mobile voice and data services, fixed-line telephony, broadband internet (including fiber-to-the-home), and pay-TV solutions. It also provides ICT and managed services for business customers, such as cloud, data center, connectivity, Internet of Things (IoT) and security solutions.

Vivo operates a nationwide network across Brazil and serves both individual consumers and corporate clients.