Blue Trust Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Telefónica, S.A. (NYSE:TEF)

Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Telefónica, S.A. (NYSE:TEF) by 59.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 114,184 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 42,639 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Telefónica were worth $459,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in TEF. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Telefónica in the third quarter worth approximately $45,000. Drive Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Telefónica during the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Telefónica in the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. Abel Hall LLC acquired a new stake in Telefónica in the third quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, Traveka Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Telefónica during the 4th quarter worth about $60,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 1.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Telefónica from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Telefónica Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TEF opened at $4.04 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $4.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $4.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.81. Telefónica, S.A. has a 12 month low of $3.82 and a 12 month high of $4.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.88 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.52 and a beta of 0.68.

Telefónica (NYSE:TEF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $11.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11 billion. Telefónica had a positive return on equity of 10.10% and a negative net margin of 2.84%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Telefónica, S.A. will post 0.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Telefónica Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a $0.1576 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a yield of 5.2%. Telefónica’s dividend payout ratio is presently -84.62%.

Telefónica 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.