Analysts Set Telefonica Brasil S.A. (NYSE:VIV) Price Target at $13.42

Shares of Telefonica Brasil S.A. (NYSE:VIV) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the nine research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation, two have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $13.42.

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on VIV. Wall Street Zen upgraded Telefonica Brasil from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 11th. Weiss Ratings raised Telefonica Brasil from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Telefonica Brasil in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $14.00 price target on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of Telefonica Brasil from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Barclays cut shares of Telefonica Brasil from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $14.50 to $16.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 12th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Telefonica Brasil

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VIV. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in shares of Telefonica Brasil by 26.5% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 190,168 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $2,259,000 after purchasing an additional 39,782 shares during the period. Dorsey Wright & Associates lifted its position in shares of Telefonica Brasil by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates now owns 128,702 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $1,526,000 after buying an additional 4,900 shares during the period. Mcguire Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Telefonica Brasil during the 4th quarter worth approximately $170,000. Compound Planning Inc. boosted its stake in Telefonica Brasil by 11.3% in the 4th quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 15,911 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $189,000 after buying an additional 1,609 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Telefonica Brasil by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,094,219 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $36,697,000 after buying an additional 237,601 shares in the last quarter. 5.16% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Telefonica Brasil Stock Up 1.4%

NYSE VIV opened at $15.88 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $13.36. Telefonica Brasil has a twelve month low of $8.19 and a twelve month high of $16.95. The stock has a market cap of $25.82 billion, a PE ratio of 22.68, a PEG ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 0.68.

Telefonica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 23rd. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.05. Telefonica Brasil had a return on equity of 9.15% and a net margin of 10.42%.The firm had revenue of $2.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.88 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Telefonica Brasil will post 0.6 EPS for the current year.

Telefonica Brasil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 21st. Investors of record on Friday, May 22nd will be given a $0.4562 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 22nd. Telefonica Brasil’s dividend payout ratio is 55.71%.

Telefonica Brasil Company Profile

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.