Telefônica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Telefônica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on VIV. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Telefônica Brasil from $9.20 to $10.40 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Telefônica Brasil from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Telefônica Brasil from $11.00 to $11.50 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.97.

Telefônica Brasil Price Performance

Telefônica Brasil stock opened at $9.32 on Wednesday. Telefônica Brasil has a 1 year low of $8.02 and a 1 year high of $11.43. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $9.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.14. The company has a market cap of $15.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.79, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.03.

Telefônica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.03. Telefônica Brasil had a net margin of 9.65% and a return on equity of 7.53%. The firm had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.18 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Telefônica Brasil will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Telefônica Brasil Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a — dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were issued a dividend of $0.0379 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a dividend yield of 3.2%. Telefônica Brasil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.86%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Telefônica Brasil

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Telefônica Brasil by 2.8% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 85,787 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $881,000 after purchasing an additional 2,304 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Telefônica Brasil by 5.5% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 23,708 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $243,000 after buying an additional 1,236 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Telefônica Brasil by 30.2% in the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 13,094 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $134,000 after buying an additional 3,039 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its holdings in Telefônica Brasil by 75.3% in the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 35,518 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $365,000 after buying an additional 15,260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Telefônica Brasil by 87.5% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 6,026 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 2,812 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 5.16% of the company’s stock.

About Telefônica Brasil

Telefônica Brasil SA, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a mobile telecommunications company in Brazil. Its fixed line services portfolio includes local, domestic long-distance, and international long-distance calls; and mobile portfolio comprises voice and broadband internet access through 3G, 4G, 4.5G, and 5G, as well as mobile value-added and wireless roaming services.