Telefonica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) Cut to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Telefonica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Saturday morning.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the stock. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Telefonica Brasil in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $14.00 price objective for the company. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $14.50 price target on shares of Telefonica Brasil in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Telefonica Brasil in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley set a $12.00 price objective on shares of Telefonica Brasil in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Telefonica Brasil from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.12.

Telefonica Brasil Stock Performance

VIV opened at $12.24 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm has a market cap of $19.90 billion, a PE ratio of 18.54, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.70. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.14. Telefonica Brasil has a fifty-two week low of $7.60 and a fifty-two week high of $13.31.

Telefonica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 14th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter. Telefonica Brasil had a return on equity of 8.67% and a net margin of 10.37%.The business had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter. As a group, equities analysts predict that Telefonica Brasil will post 0.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Telefonica Brasil

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in shares of Telefonica Brasil by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 24,891 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $317,000 after buying an additional 886 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in Telefonica Brasil by 2.1% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 47,245 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $602,000 after purchasing an additional 980 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in Telefonica Brasil by 6.2% in the third quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 17,494 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $223,000 after purchasing an additional 1,019 shares in the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Telefonica Brasil by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 65,512 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $835,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Telefonica Brasil by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 40,454 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $461,000 after purchasing an additional 1,109 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 5.16% of the company’s stock.

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.