Ballentine Partners LLC Cuts Stake in Telefónica, S.A. (NYSE:TEF)

Ballentine Partners LLC cut its position in Telefónica, S.A. (NYSE:TEF) by 2.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 125,064 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,130 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Telefónica were worth $552,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in TEF. First Affirmative Financial Network raised its holdings in Telefónica by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 64,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $283,000 after acquiring an additional 3,038 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Telefónica by 14.5% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 46,301 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $188,000 after purchasing an additional 5,878 shares in the last quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Telefónica by 6.5% during the third quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 98,474 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $402,000 after buying an additional 6,018 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of Telefónica by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 373,929 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,459,000 after acquiring an additional 6,066 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Telefónica by 177.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,897 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 6,972 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 1.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on TEF shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Telefónica from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. StockNews.com raised Telefónica from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold”.

Telefónica Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE TEF traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $4.38. 56,280 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 725,805. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. Telefónica, S.A. has a one year low of $3.71 and a one year high of $4.80. The company’s 50 day moving average is $4.45 and its 200 day moving average is $4.23.

Telefónica (NYSE:TEF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.02. Telefónica had a positive return on equity of 7.84% and a negative net margin of 1.57%. The company had revenue of $11.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.96 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Telefónica, S.A. will post 0.34 EPS for the current year.

Telefónica Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a Semi-Annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be issued a $0.1628 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 5.2%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 18th. Telefónica’s payout ratio is presently -143.75%.

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.