Wall Street Zen Upgrades Telefonica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) to “Strong-Buy”

Telefonica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday.

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

Telefonica Brasil Stock Performance

Telefonica Brasil stock opened at $12.42 on Friday. Telefonica Brasil has a fifty-two week low of $7.60 and a fifty-two week high of $13.31. The company has a market capitalization of $20.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.81, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.70. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $12.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $12.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.02.

Telefonica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 14th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $2.81 billion for the quarter. Telefonica Brasil had a return on equity of 8.67% and a net margin of 10.37%. On average, analysts anticipate that Telefonica Brasil will post 0.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Telefonica Brasil in the fourth quarter valued at $110,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Telefonica Brasil by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 88,449 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $1,128,000 after buying an additional 8,512 shares during the last quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network grew its stake in shares of Telefonica Brasil by 3.4% during the third quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 33,558 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $428,000 after acquiring an additional 1,113 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Telefonica Brasil during the third quarter worth about $142,000. Finally, Dorsey Wright & Associates acquired a new position in shares of Telefonica Brasil in the third quarter worth about $1,578,000. 5.16% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Telefonica Brasil

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.