Brandes Investment Partners LP Has $20.62 Million Position in Telefônica Brasil S.A. (NYSE:VIV)

Brandes Investment Partners LP lowered its stake in Telefônica Brasil S.A. (NYSE:VIV) by 7.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,730,834 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after selling 227,287 shares during the period. Brandes Investment Partners LP owned 0.17% of Telefônica Brasil worth $20,618,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Telefônica Brasil by 67.8% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,818 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 1,543 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in Telefônica Brasil by 86.4% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 4,169 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 1,933 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Telefônica Brasil in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Telefônica Brasil by 46.4% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 8,823 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 2,797 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC bought a new position in Telefônica Brasil in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $78,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 5.16% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Telefônica Brasil Trading Up 3.6 %

Shares of NYSE VIV opened at $8.85 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $8.56 and its 200-day moving average is $8.90. The stock has a market cap of $14.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.04, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.76. Telefônica Brasil S.A. has a twelve month low of $7.47 and a twelve month high of $10.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.39 billion. Telefônica Brasil had a net margin of 9.78% and a return on equity of 7.77%. Equities research analysts predict that Telefônica Brasil S.A. will post 0.6 EPS for the current year.

Telefônica Brasil 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.