Telefonica (NYSE:TEF) Stock Passes Below Fifty Day Moving Average – Here’s What Happened

Telefonica SA (NYSE:TEF)’s share price passed below its fifty day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a fifty day moving average of $4.41 and traded as low as $3.95. Telefonica shares last traded at $4.00, with a volume of 463,704 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on TEF. New Street Research downgraded shares of Telefonica from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $3.83 price target on shares of Telefonica in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Telefonica to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Kepler Capital Markets raised Telefonica from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Telefonica in a research report on Monday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Strong Sell” and an average price target of $4.02.

Telefonica Trading Down 0.4%

The firm has a market capitalization of $22.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 0.27. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $4.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $4.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Telefonica (NYSE:TEF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.02. Telefonica had a negative net margin of 5.23% and a positive return on equity of 8.54%. The firm had revenue of $10.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Telefonica SA will post 0.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Telefonica Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Telefonica

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Telefonica during the 3rd quarter worth $134,000. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Telefonica by 50.0% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 21,209 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $108,000 after purchasing an additional 7,067 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in Telefonica by 367.7% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,897 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 3,850 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its position in Telefonica by 12.3% during the third quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 92,970 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $472,000 after buying an additional 10,170 shares during the period. Finally, Lido Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Telefonica in the third quarter valued at about $78,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 1.14% of the company’s stock.

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.