Telefonica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) Cut to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Telefonica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) was downgraded by Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on VIV. Scotiabank increased their target price on Telefonica Brasil from $15.30 to $15.70 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday. New Street Research raised Telefonica Brasil from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Bradesco Corretora downgraded Telefonica Brasil to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. UBS Group downgraded Telefonica Brasil from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Barclays set a $16.50 price objective on Telefonica Brasil and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $14.16.

Telefonica Brasil Stock Up 0.2%

VIV stock opened at $14.26 on Wednesday. Telefonica Brasil has a fifty-two week low of $9.41 and a fifty-two week high of $17.25. The business’s 50-day moving average is $15.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.10. The company has a market cap of $23.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.63.

Telefonica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.02). Telefonica Brasil had a net margin of 10.49% and a return on equity of 9.32%. The firm had revenue of $2.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.98 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Telefonica Brasil will post 0.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Telefonica Brasil

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Telefonica Brasil by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,802 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $140,000 after purchasing an additional 672 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC raised its stake in Telefonica Brasil by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 22,285 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $264,000 after purchasing an additional 727 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC raised its stake in Telefonica Brasil by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 26,638 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $316,000 after purchasing an additional 744 shares during the period. BSW Wealth Partners raised its stake in Telefonica Brasil by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 36,804 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $436,000 after purchasing an additional 770 shares during the period. Finally, Compound Planning Inc. increased its stake in Telefonica Brasil by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 16,750 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $266,000 after acquiring an additional 839 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 5.16% of the company’s stock.

Telefonica Brasil Company Profile

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.