Telefonica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

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

A number of other research firms also recently commented on VIV. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of Telefonica Brasil in a report on Friday, August 8th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $14.50 price target on shares of Telefonica Brasil in a report on Monday, November 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Telefonica Brasil from $11.40 to $12.60 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Telefonica Brasil from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Telefonica Brasil from $8.80 to $12.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.90.

Telefonica Brasil Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of VIV opened at $12.61 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.34, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.76. Telefonica Brasil has a 52 week low of $7.47 and a 52 week high of $12.97. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $12.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Telefonica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.01 billion. Telefonica Brasil had a net margin of 10.13% and a return on equity of 8.32%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Telefonica Brasil will post 0.6 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its position in Telefonica Brasil by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 17,000,115 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $216,751,000 after acquiring an additional 1,735,958 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of Telefonica Brasil by 54.8% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,754,523 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $65,602,000 after acquiring an additional 2,036,349 shares in the last quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of Telefonica Brasil by 3.5% in the second quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 3,480,597 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $39,679,000 after buying an additional 119,002 shares during the last quarter. Aberdeen Group plc raised its holdings in Telefonica Brasil by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 2,911,556 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $36,569,000 after acquiring an additional 63,816 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Telefonica Brasil by 36.4% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,445,527 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $12,605,000 after acquiring an additional 385,848 shares during the last quarter. 5.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Telefonica 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.