Aprio Wealth Management LLC Buys Shares of 13,318 Telefónica, S.A. (NYSE:TEF)

Aprio Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Telefónica, S.A. (NYSE:TEF) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 13,318 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $59,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Telefónica by 177.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,897 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 6,972 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Telefónica in the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. VanderPol Investments L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of Telefónica in the fourth quarter valued at about $89,000. Auxier Asset Management lifted its holdings in shares of Telefónica by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. Auxier Asset Management now owns 184,036 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $718,000 after purchasing an additional 24,227 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Trust Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Telefónica by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. American Trust Investment Advisors LLC now owns 77,524 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $302,000 after purchasing an additional 10,465 shares in the last quarter. 1.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Telefónica Trading Up 0.7 %

TEF opened at $4.31 on Friday. Telefónica, S.A. has a 52-week low of $3.71 and a 52-week high of $4.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $4.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4.23.

Telefónica (NYSE:TEF) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $11.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.96 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Telefónica, S.A. will post 0.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Telefónica Cuts Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

About Telefónica

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.