Telefonica (NYSE:TEF) Sees Large Volume Increase – What’s Next?

Telefonica SA (NYSE:TEF) shares saw unusually-high trading volume on Monday . Approximately 564,991 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 25% from the previous session’s volume of 757,072 shares.The stock last traded at $4.0550 and had previously closed at $3.98.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TEF has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $3.83 target price on shares of Telefonica in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Telefonica in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. New Street Research lowered Telefonica from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Citigroup lowered Telefonica to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Kepler Capital Markets raised Telefonica from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Strong Sell” and an average price target of $4.02.

Telefonica Stock Up 1.1%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 0.27. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $4.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $4.95.

Telefonica (NYSE:TEF) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $10.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9 billion. Telefonica had a positive return on equity of 8.54% and a negative net margin of 5.23%. On average, analysts predict that Telefonica SA will post 0.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Telefonica Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.1731 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 17th. This represents a yield of 856.0%. Telefonica’s payout ratio is currently -60.98%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Telefonica

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of TEF. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in Telefonica by 20.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,243,236 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,093,000 after acquiring an additional 1,065,861 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Telefonica by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,638,295 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,954,000 after purchasing an additional 15,707 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Telefonica by 17.8% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,752,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,166,000 after purchasing an additional 265,090 shares in the last quarter. Carrera Capital Advisors increased its position in shares of Telefonica by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Carrera Capital Advisors now owns 1,068,090 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,426,000 after purchasing an additional 60,924 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Telefonica by 394.3% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 921,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,683,000 after purchasing an additional 735,311 shares during the last quarter. 1.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Telefonica

Telefónica, SA is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Madrid. Founded in 1924 as Compañía Telefónica Nacional de España, it has grown into one of the world’s largest telecommunications groups. Telefónica provides a broad range of communications services to residential and business customers, including mobile and fixed-line telephony, broadband internet, and pay-TV. The company also develops and sells network infrastructure and related services to support connectivity at scale.

Beyond traditional voice and data services, Telefónica has expanded into digital and IT services aimed at enterprise customers and public-sector clients.