Telefónica (NYSE:TEF) Downgraded to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Telefónica (NYSE:TEF) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on TEF. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Telefónica to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Bank of America lowered shares of Telefónica from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. New Street Research lowered shares of Telefónica from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, July 5th. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of Telefónica from a reduce rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Telefónica presently has an average rating of Hold.

Telefónica Stock Performance

NYSE:TEF opened at $4.77 on Friday. Telefónica has a 52 week low of $3.71 and a 52 week high of $4.93. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $4.65 and a 200 day moving average of $4.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -29.81 and a beta of 0.67.

Telefónica (NYSE:TEF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.03. Telefónica had a negative net margin of 1.62% and a positive return on equity of 9.18%. The company had revenue of $11.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.85 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Telefónica will post 0.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of TEF. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Telefónica by 0.4% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,258,793 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,300,000 after acquiring an additional 4,949 shares during the period. Nia Impact Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Telefónica in the second quarter worth $3,645,000. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Telefónica by 81.2% in the second quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 696,563 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,933,000 after acquiring an additional 312,113 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Telefónica by 21.2% in the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 300,304 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,324,000 after acquiring an additional 52,586 shares during the period. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Telefónica by 2.8% in the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 212,018 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $893,000 after acquiring an additional 5,835 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 1.14% of the company’s stock.

About Telefónica

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.