Telefónica (NYSE:TEF) Stock Price Down 2.6%

Shares of Telefónica, S.A. (NYSE:TEF) fell 2.6% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $4.18 and last traded at $4.20. 177,968 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 743,172 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.31.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on TEF. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Telefónica from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Telefónica from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Telefónica Stock Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average is $4.46 and its 200 day moving average is $4.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Telefónica (NYSE:TEF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.02. Telefónica had a negative net margin of 1.57% and a positive return on equity of 7.84%. The firm had revenue of $11.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.96 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Telefónica, S.A. will post 0.34 EPS for the current year.

Telefónica Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a Semi-Annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.1628 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a dividend yield of 5.2%. Telefónica’s dividend payout ratio is currently -143.75%.

Institutional Trading of Telefónica

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gabelli Funds LLC grew its position in shares of Telefónica by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 1,519,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,924,000 after buying an additional 39,000 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Telefónica by 5.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,474,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,001,000 after purchasing an additional 76,410 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Telefónica by 5.8% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 471,496 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,919,000 after purchasing an additional 25,733 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Telefónica by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 373,929 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,459,000 after purchasing an additional 6,066 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors L.P. boosted its holdings in Telefónica by 44.1% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 365,731 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,489,000 after purchasing an additional 111,895 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 1.14% of the company’s stock.

Telefónica Company Profile

Telefónica, SA, together with its subsidiaries, provides telecommunications services in Europe and Latin America. The company offers mobile and related services and products, such as mobile voice, value added, mobile data and internet, wholesale, corporate, roaming, fixed wireless, and trunking and paging services.