Telefónica, S.A. (TEF) To Go Ex-Dividend on June 18th

Telefónica, S.A. (NYSE:TEF) announced a semi-annual dividend on Monday, June 2nd, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be paid a dividend of 0.1703 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, July 11th. This represents a yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 18th. This is a 8.1% increase from Telefónica’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.16.

Telefónica has a payout ratio of 66.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Telefónica to earn $0.31 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $0.31 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 100.0%.

Telefónica Trading Down 0.1%

TEF opened at $5.26 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $29.80 billion, a P/E ratio of -20.21 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $5.01 and a 200 day moving average of $4.55. Telefónica has a 12 month low of $3.89 and a 12 month high of $5.43.

Telefónica (NYSE:TEF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.08. Telefónica had a negative net margin of 2.84% and a positive return on equity of 10.10%. The company had revenue of $9.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.06 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Telefónica will post 0.3 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Telefónica in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised Telefónica from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, DZ Bank downgraded Telefónica from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Telefónica

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TEF. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Telefónica by 20.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,243,236 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,093,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065,861 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC raised its holdings in Telefónica by 83.7% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 292,957 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 133,509 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth increased its position in shares of Telefónica by 24.5% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 26,347 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $123,000 after buying an additional 5,177 shares in the last quarter. 1.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Telefónica Company Profile

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.