Telefônica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) Trading Up 3% – Should You Buy?

Telefônica Brasil S.A. (NYSE:VIV) rose 3% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $8.97 and last traded at $8.98. Approximately 123,970 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 834,406 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.72.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VIV. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Telefônica Brasil from $10.40 to $9.20 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. New Street Research lowered Telefônica Brasil from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com raised Telefônica Brasil from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Telefônica Brasil from $10.60 to $9.20 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Telefônica Brasil from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $11.80 to $11.50 in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $9.97.

Telefônica Brasil Trading Down 1.5 %

The company’s 50-day moving average is $8.79 and its 200-day moving average is $8.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market cap of $14.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.76.

Telefônica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.01. Telefônica Brasil had a net margin of 9.78% and a return on equity of 7.77%. The company had revenue of $2.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.39 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Telefônica Brasil S.A. will post 0.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Telefônica Brasil Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th were given a dividend of $0.0215 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 25th. This is an increase from Telefônica Brasil’s previous dividend of $0.02. Telefônica Brasil’s payout ratio is presently 50.82%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Telefônica Brasil

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its holdings in Telefônica Brasil by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 15,192,635 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $114,704,000 after purchasing an additional 1,053,218 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of Telefônica Brasil by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,571,650 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $19,416,000 after buying an additional 114,266 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in Telefônica Brasil by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,078,200 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $15,690,000 after buying an additional 78,200 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Telefônica Brasil by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,275,565 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $9,630,000 after acquiring an additional 31,820 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Telefônica Brasil by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,059,679 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $8,001,000 after acquiring an additional 9,230 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 5.16% of the company’s stock.

About Telefônica Brasil

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.