Telefonica SA (TEF) to Issue Dividend of $0.17 on January 9th

Telefonica SA (NYSE:TEF) declared a dividend on Thursday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 17th will be given a dividend of 0.1731 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, January 9th. This represents a dividend yield of 827.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 17th.

Telefonica has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years. Telefonica has a payout ratio of 53.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Telefonica to earn $0.31 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.25 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 80.6%.

Telefonica Trading Up 2.7%

Shares of TEF stock opened at $4.19 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $4.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.81. Telefonica has a 1-year low of $3.89 and a 1-year high of $5.72. The firm has a market cap of $23.76 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.73, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.48.

Telefonica (NYSE:TEF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $10.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9 billion. Telefonica had a negative net margin of 5.88% and a positive return on equity of 8.57%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Telefonica will post 0.3 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TEF has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Telefonica in a report on Wednesday. BNP Paribas raised Telefonica to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on Telefonica in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $4.20 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Telefonica from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, November 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Strong Sell” and an average price target of $4.20.

About Telefonica

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.