Virtu Financial LLC Buys New Stake in Telefônica Brasil S.A. (NYSE:VIV)

Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Telefônica Brasil S.A. (NYSE:VIV) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 14,303 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock, valued at approximately $108,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VIV. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its holdings in Telefônica Brasil by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 15,192,635 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $114,704,000 after purchasing an additional 1,053,218 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in Telefônica Brasil during the third quarter valued at approximately $5,967,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Telefônica Brasil by 27.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 326,954 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $3,413,000 after buying an additional 70,900 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Telefônica Brasil by 41.1% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 264,413 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $2,716,000 after acquiring an additional 77,005 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Telefônica Brasil by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 225,212 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $1,700,000 after purchasing an additional 9,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 5.16% of the company’s stock.

Telefônica Brasil Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of Telefônica Brasil stock opened at $8.76 on Monday. Telefônica Brasil S.A. has a 1-year low of $7.47 and a 1-year high of $10.41. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $8.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a market capitalization of $14.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.91, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.76.

Telefônica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.39 billion. Telefônica Brasil had a net margin of 9.78% and a return on equity of 7.77%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Telefônica Brasil S.A. will post 0.6 EPS for the current year.

Telefônica Brasil Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 25th were paid a dividend of $0.0215 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 25th. This is a boost from Telefônica Brasil’s previous dividend of $0.02. Telefônica Brasil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.82%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on VIV. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Telefônica Brasil from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Telefônica Brasil from $10.40 to $9.20 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays raised Telefônica Brasil from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $11.80 to $11.50 in a report on Monday, March 3rd. New Street Research lowered Telefônica Brasil from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Telefônica Brasil from $10.60 to $9.20 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $9.97.

Telefônica Brasil Company Profile

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.