Telefónica (NYSE:TEF) Now Covered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Telefónica (NYSE:TEF – Get Rating) in a research note published on Thursday. The brokerage issued a buy rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on TEF. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Telefónica from €2.70 ($2.90) to €2.50 ($2.69) and set an underweight rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 5th. Credit Suisse Group upped their target price on Telefónica from €4.10 ($4.41) to €4.20 ($4.52) and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, November 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Telefónica from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, December 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Telefónica from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Monday, February 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Telefónica currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $4.00.

Telefónica Price Performance

TEF stock opened at $3.93 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.56 and a beta of 0.59. The business has a 50-day moving average of $3.95 and a 200-day moving average of $3.70. Telefónica has a fifty-two week low of $3.10 and a fifty-two week high of $5.39.

Telefónica (NYSE:TEF – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.05. Telefónica had a return on equity of 6.53% and a net margin of 5.07%. The business had revenue of $10.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.56 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Telefónica will post 0.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Telefónica

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Telefónica by 32.1% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,943,536 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,689,076 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of Telefónica by 17.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,660,709 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $23,779,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003,304 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of Telefónica by 14.0% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,299,210 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,436,000 after purchasing an additional 649,678 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Telefónica by 15.1% in the second quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,977,734 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,536,000 after purchasing an additional 652,477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Telefónica by 107.5% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,076,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,984,000 after purchasing an additional 1,594,259 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 6.13% of the company’s stock.

Telefónica Company Profile

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Telefónica SA engages in the provision of communication, information and entertainment solutions. It operates through the following brands: Telefónica, Movistar, O2, and Vivo. The company was founded on April 19, 1924 and is headquartered in Madrid, Spain.