Bank of America Lowers Telefónica (NYSE:TEF) to Neutral

Bank of America downgraded shares of Telefónica (NYSE:TEF) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report issued on Friday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. New Street Research downgraded shares of Telefónica from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, July 5th. StockNews.com downgraded Telefónica from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Telefónica from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold.

Telefónica Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:TEF traded down $0.03 during trading on Friday, reaching $4.39. The stock had a trading volume of 265,150 shares, compared to its average volume of 763,002. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $4.43 and its 200 day moving average is $4.31. Telefónica has a 52 week low of $3.71 and a 52 week high of $4.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market cap of $24.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.38 and a beta of 0.68.

Telefónica (NYSE:TEF) last announced its 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. The company had revenue of $11.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.96 billion. Telefónica had a positive return on equity of 9.18% and a negative net margin of 1.62%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Telefónica will post 0.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Telefónica Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th were given a dividend of $0.1628 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 5.2%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 18th. Telefónica’s payout ratio is presently -143.75%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Telefónica

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its position in Telefónica by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 1,519,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,924,000 after purchasing an additional 39,000 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Telefónica by 81.2% in the second quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 696,563 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,933,000 after purchasing an additional 312,113 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Telefónica by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 373,929 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,459,000 after buying an additional 6,066 shares in the last quarter. Mainstay Capital Management LLC ADV purchased a new position in Telefónica in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,200,000. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Telefónica by 21.2% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 300,304 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,324,000 after acquiring an additional 52,586 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 1.14% of the company’s stock.

About Telefónica

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.