Telefônica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) Cut to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Telefônica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Monday.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Telefônica Brasil from $9.20 to $10.40 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Barclays boosted their target price on Telefônica Brasil from $11.50 to $11.80 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $11.07.

Telefônica Brasil Price Performance

Shares of VIV stock opened at $8.66 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $14.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.75, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.81. The business’s fifty day moving average is $9.44 and its 200 day moving average is $9.09. Telefônica Brasil has a twelve month low of $8.02 and a twelve month high of $11.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Telefônica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. Telefônica Brasil had a return on equity of 7.77% and a net margin of 9.78%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.18 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Telefônica Brasil will post 0.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VIV. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Telefônica Brasil by 6.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,222,562 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $12,311,000 after purchasing an additional 72,388 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Telefônica Brasil during the first quarter valued at $123,000. Cetera Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Telefônica Brasil during the first quarter valued at $236,000. Arkfeld Wealth Strategies L.L.C. bought a new position in shares of Telefônica Brasil during the second quarter valued at $85,000. Finally, Simplicity Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Telefônica Brasil by 22.2% during the second quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 18,459 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $152,000 after purchasing an additional 3,358 shares in the last quarter. 5.16% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Telefônica Brasil

Telefônica Brasil SA, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a mobile telecommunications company in Brazil. Its fixed line services portfolio includes local, domestic long-distance, and international long-distance calls; and mobile portfolio comprises voice and broadband internet access through 3G, 4G, 4.5G, and 5G, as well as mobile value-added and wireless roaming services.