Telefônica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) Rating Lowered to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Telefônica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on VIV. Barclays lifted their price objective on Telefônica Brasil from $11.00 to $11.50 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley upgraded Telefônica Brasil from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $11.17.

Telefônica Brasil Price Performance

NYSE VIV opened at $10.12 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.25. Telefônica Brasil has a 52-week low of $8.02 and a 52-week high of $11.43.

Telefônica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14. The company had revenue of $2.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. Telefônica Brasil had a net margin of 9.65% and a return on equity of 7.53%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.14 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Telefônica Brasil will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Telefônica Brasil Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a — dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were given a dividend of $0.0379 per share. This represents a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. Telefônica Brasil’s payout ratio is 47.62%.

Institutional Trading of Telefônica Brasil

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brandes Investment Partners LP increased its holdings in shares of Telefônica Brasil by 14.3% during the 2nd quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 2,206,334 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $18,261,000 after acquiring an additional 275,569 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Telefônica Brasil by 165.5% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,856,545 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $20,311,000 after purchasing an additional 1,157,304 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Telefônica Brasil by 12.1% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,828,800 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $15,014,000 after purchasing an additional 197,500 shares during the last quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. raised its position in shares of Telefônica Brasil by 82.7% in the fourth quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 1,601,608 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $17,517,000 after purchasing an additional 725,072 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Telefônica Brasil by 6.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,222,562 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $12,311,000 after buying an additional 72,388 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 5.16% of the company’s stock.

Telefônica Brasil Company Profile

Telefônica Brasil SA, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a mobile telecommunications company in Brazil. Its fixed line services portfolio includes local, domestic long-distance, and international long-distance calls; and mobile portfolio comprises voice and broadband internet access through 3G, 4G, 4.5G, and 5G, as well as mobile value-added and wireless roaming services.