Telefonica (NYSE:TEF) Hits New 12-Month Low – Should You Sell?

Telefonica SA (NYSE:TEF) shares reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $3.88 and last traded at $3.8750, with a volume of 512326 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $3.93.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TEF has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. New Street Research lowered shares of Telefonica from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $3.83 target price on shares of Telefonica in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Kepler Capital Markets upgraded shares of Telefonica from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Telefonica in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Telefonica from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Telefonica presently has a consensus rating of “Strong Sell” and an average target price of $4.02.

Telefonica Stock Down 2.2%

The company has a market capitalization of $21.80 billion, a PE ratio of -9.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 0.29. The company’s fifty day moving average is $4.12 and its 200-day moving average is $4.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.84.

Telefonica (NYSE:TEF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $10.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9 billion. Telefonica had a negative net margin of 5.23% and a positive return on equity of 8.54%. As a group, analysts predict that Telefonica SA will post 0.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Telefonica Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 17th were issued a dividend of $0.1731 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 17th. This represents a yield of 856.0%. Telefonica’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -63.41%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Telefonica

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in shares of Telefonica by 367.7% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,897 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 3,850 shares in the last quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in Telefonica during the second quarter worth about $44,000. Momentous Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Telefonica in the third quarter valued at about $51,000. Wrapmanager Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Telefonica in the second quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, AlphaCore Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Telefonica during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $55,000. Institutional investors own 1.14% of the company’s stock.

About Telefonica

Telefónica, SA is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Madrid. Founded in 1924 as Compañía Telefónica Nacional de España, it has grown into one of the world’s largest telecommunications groups. Telefónica provides a broad range of communications services to residential and business customers, including mobile and fixed-line telephony, broadband internet, and pay-TV. The company also develops and sells network infrastructure and related services to support connectivity at scale.

Beyond traditional voice and data services, Telefónica has expanded into digital and IT services aimed at enterprise customers and public-sector clients.