Telefonica SA Announces Dividend of $0.17 (NYSE:TEF)

Telefonica SA (NYSE:TEF) announced a dividend on Thursday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 17th will be given a dividend of 0.1731 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, January 9th. This represents a yield of 827.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 17th.

Telefonica has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years. Telefonica has a payout ratio of 53.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Telefonica to earn $0.31 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.25 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 80.6%.

Telefonica Stock Performance

TEF traded up $0.11 on Friday, reaching $4.19. The company had a trading volume of 508,942 shares, compared to its average volume of 706,419. The stock has a market cap of $23.73 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.85. Telefonica has a fifty-two week low of $3.89 and a fifty-two week high of $5.72. The company’s fifty day moving average is $4.89 and its 200 day moving average is $5.13.

Telefonica (NYSE:TEF) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. 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 $10.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9 billion. Telefonica had a positive return on equity of 8.57% and a negative net margin of 5.88%. As a group, analysts predict that Telefonica will post 0.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Telefonica in a research report on Wednesday. BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on shares of Telefonica in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $4.20 price target for the company. BNP Paribas upgraded Telefonica to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Telefonica from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Telefonica has a consensus rating of “Strong Sell” and a consensus target price of $4.20.

About Telefonica

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.