Telefonica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) Trading Down 5% – Here’s Why

Telefonica Brasil S.A. (NYSE:VIV)’s stock price dropped 5% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $13.42 and last traded at $13.3870. Approximately 87,149 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 91% from the average daily volume of 970,242 shares. The stock had previously closed at $14.09.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Telefonica Brasil from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Telefonica Brasil from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. New Street Research raised shares of Telefonica Brasil from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. UBS Group cut shares of Telefonica Brasil from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Telefonica Brasil from $15.30 to $15.70 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $14.42.

Telefonica Brasil Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.11, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.63. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $15.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.26.

Telefonica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) last posted its quarterly 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 return on equity of 9.32% and a net margin of 10.49%.The company had revenue of $2.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.98 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Telefonica Brasil S.A. will post 0.88 EPS for the current year.

Telefonica Brasil Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.4562 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 22nd. Telefonica Brasil’s dividend payout ratio is 62.16%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Telefonica Brasil

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in Telefonica Brasil by 43,665.3% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 31,511 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $501,000 after acquiring an additional 31,439 shares during the last quarter. Opal Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Telefonica Brasil in the 1st quarter valued at about $4,255,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Telefonica Brasil by 61.2% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,840 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $157,000 after acquiring an additional 3,736 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in Telefonica Brasil by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 392,178 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $6,240,000 after acquiring an additional 2,019 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its stake in Telefonica Brasil by 12.4% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 190,338 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $3,028,000 after acquiring an additional 21,073 shares during the last quarter. 5.16% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Telefonica Brasil

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.