Telefonica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) Upgraded by The Goldman Sachs Group to Strong Sell Rating

Telefonica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) was upgraded by The Goldman Sachs Group to a “strong sell” rating in a research note issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

VIV has been the topic of several other research reports. Zacks Research lowered shares of Telefonica Brasil from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Telefonica Brasil from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Telefonica Brasil from $15.30 to $15.70 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Bradesco Corretora lowered shares of Telefonica Brasil to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Telefonica Brasil from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $14.42.

Telefonica Brasil Price Performance

VIV opened at $14.09 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $15.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.10. Telefonica Brasil has a 1 year low of $9.41 and a 1 year high of $17.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.91 billion, a PE ratio of 19.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.63.

Telefonica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.17 by ($0.02). Telefonica Brasil had a return on equity of 9.32% and a net margin of 10.49%.The company had revenue of $2.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.98 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Telefonica Brasil will post 0.88 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Telefonica Brasil

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in Telefonica Brasil by 337.7% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 4,233 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 3,266 shares during the period. Arax Advisory Partners boosted its holdings in Telefonica Brasil by 54.4% in the fourth quarter. Arax Advisory Partners now owns 3,773 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 1,330 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Telefonica Brasil in the first quarter worth $52,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Telefonica Brasil by 214.0% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,766 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 3,248 shares during the period. Finally, Westfuller Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Telefonica Brasil in the third quarter worth $59,000. Institutional investors own 5.16% of the company’s stock.

About Telefonica Brasil

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.