Telefônica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) Cut to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Telefônica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report published on Tuesday.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on VIV. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Telefônica Brasil from $20.80 to $18.40 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays upgraded shares of Telefônica Brasil from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $23.60 to $23.00 in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Telefônica Brasil from $9.20 to $10.30 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.23.

Telefônica Brasil Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE VIV opened at $9.79 on Tuesday. Telefônica Brasil has a 52-week low of $7.47 and a 52-week high of $10.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.96. The stock has a market cap of $16.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.54, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.73. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $13.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $15.68.

Telefônica Brasil’s stock is scheduled to reverse split on Thursday, May 29th. The 1-2 reverse split was announced on Tuesday, April 15th. The number of shares owned by shareholders will be adjusted after the closing bell on Wednesday, May 28th.

Telefônica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.01). Telefônica Brasil had a net margin of 9.78% and a return on equity of 7.77%. The business had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.41 billion. Analysts expect that Telefônica Brasil will post 0.6 EPS for the current year.

Telefônica Brasil Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 25th were given a $0.043 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 25th. This is a positive change from Telefônica Brasil’s previous dividend of $0.02. Telefônica Brasil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 91.80%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Telefônica Brasil

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Truist Financial Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Telefônica Brasil in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $242,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its position in Telefônica Brasil by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 15,192,635 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $114,704,000 after purchasing an additional 1,053,218 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Telefônica Brasil in the fourth quarter valued at $403,000. Banco BTG Pactual S.A. acquired a new stake in Telefônica Brasil in the 4th quarter valued at $237,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Telefônica Brasil by 50.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,518 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $652,000 after buying an additional 21,235 shares in 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.