Brandes Investment Partners LP Sells 363,290 Shares of Telefonica Brasil S.A. $VIV

Brandes Investment Partners LP cut its position in Telefonica Brasil S.A. (NYSE:VIV) by 13.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,277,427 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after selling 363,290 shares during the quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP owned 0.14% of Telefonica Brasil worth $27,010,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VIV. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Telefonica Brasil by 138.8% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,856,618 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $36,422,000 after purchasing an additional 1,660,475 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC bought a new position in Telefonica Brasil in the second quarter valued at about $4,192,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new stake in shares of Telefonica Brasil in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,211,000. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Telefonica Brasil by 477.6% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 392,232 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $5,001,000 after buying an additional 324,319 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP increased its stake in shares of Telefonica Brasil by 22.5% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 1,672,947 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $21,330,000 after buying an additional 307,501 shares during the period. 5.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on VIV shares. Barclays set a $16.50 target price on Telefonica Brasil and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Telefonica Brasil in a report on Monday, May 18th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $13.90 price target on the stock. Zacks Research lowered Telefonica Brasil from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Weiss Ratings lowered Telefonica Brasil from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Bradesco Corretora lowered Telefonica Brasil to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Telefonica Brasil currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $14.36.

Telefonica Brasil Stock Performance

Shares of Telefonica Brasil stock opened at $12.82 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $15.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.56. Telefonica Brasil S.A. has a 12 month low of $10.37 and a 12 month high of $17.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Telefonica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.02). Telefonica Brasil had a return on equity of 9.32% and a net margin of 10.49%.The firm had revenue of $2.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.98 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Telefonica Brasil S.A. will post 0.97 EPS for the current year.

Telefonica Brasil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 22nd will be given a $0.4562 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 22nd. Telefonica Brasil’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

Telefonica Brasil 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.