JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases Stake in Telefônica Brasil S.A. (NYSE:VIV)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Telefônica Brasil S.A. (NYSE:VIV) by 50.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 63,518 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,235 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Telefônica Brasil were worth $652,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in VIV. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Telefônica Brasil by 41.1% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 264,413 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $2,716,000 after acquiring an additional 77,005 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Telefônica Brasil by 49.0% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,171,789 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $12,034,000 after buying an additional 385,207 shares during the last quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP increased its stake in shares of Telefônica Brasil by 14.3% in the second quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 2,206,334 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $18,261,000 after buying an additional 275,569 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in shares of Telefônica Brasil in the third quarter worth $5,135,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of Telefônica Brasil by 96.8% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 544,019 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $4,466,000 after buying an additional 267,652 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 5.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on VIV. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Telefônica Brasil from $10.60 to $9.20 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays increased their price target on Telefônica Brasil from $11.50 to $11.80 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. StockNews.com raised Telefônica Brasil from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, New Street Research downgraded Telefônica Brasil from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Telefônica Brasil presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.47.

Telefônica Brasil Price Performance

Shares of VIV stock opened at $8.86 on Tuesday. Telefônica Brasil S.A. has a 1 year low of $7.47 and a 1 year high of $11.43. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $8.17 and its 200-day moving average is $8.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.06, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Telefônica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.03. Telefônica Brasil had a net margin of 9.78% and a return on equity of 7.77%. The business had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.18 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Telefônica Brasil S.A. will post 0.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Telefônica 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.