Telefonica SA (NYSE:TEF) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” from Brokerages

Shares of Telefonica SA (NYSE:TEF) have been given an average rating of “Reduce” by the five brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation and four have issued a hold recommendation on the company.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. DZ Bank cut shares of Telefonica from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Telefonica from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of Telefonica to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Telefonica

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of TEF. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Telefonica by 140.0% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,992 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $342,000 after buying an additional 49,580 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its position in shares of Telefonica by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 143,643 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $577,000 after buying an additional 6,090 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Telefonica by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 44,151 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $177,000 after buying an additional 6,059 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Telefonica during the fourth quarter worth $1,022,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Telefonica by 576.6% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 13,316 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 11,348 shares during the period. 1.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Telefonica Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE TEF opened at $5.36 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.85. Telefonica has a 52-week low of $3.89 and a 52-week high of $5.72. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $5.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $5.00. The stock has a market cap of $30.36 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.56.

Telefonica (NYSE:TEF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.08. Telefonica had a negative net margin of 5.88% and a positive return on equity of 8.57%. The firm had revenue of $10.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.03 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Telefonica will post 0.3 EPS for the current year.

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.