Telefônica Brasil S.A. (NYSE:VIV) Short Interest Update

Telefônica Brasil S.A. (NYSE:VIV) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,880,000 shares, a growth of 34.0% from the February 28th total of 2,150,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 915,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.1 days. Approximately 0.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Telefônica Brasil Trading Up 4.8 %

Shares of NYSE:VIV traded up $0.42 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $9.14. 1,140,373 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 837,954. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm has a market cap of $15.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.50, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.76. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $8.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $8.83. Telefônica Brasil has a 1-year low of $7.47 and a 1-year high of $10.41.

Telefônica Brasil (NYSE:VIV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 7.77% and a net margin of 9.78%. Equities analysts predict that Telefônica Brasil will post 0.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Telefônica Brasil Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its position in shares of Telefônica Brasil by 7.4% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in Telefônica Brasil by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,571,650 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $19,416,000 after acquiring an additional 114,266 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in Telefônica Brasil by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,078,200 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $15,690,000 after acquiring an additional 78,200 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its stake in Telefônica Brasil by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,275,565 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $9,630,000 after acquiring an additional 31,820 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Telefônica Brasil by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,059,679 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $8,001,000 after acquiring an additional 9,230 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 5.16% of the company’s stock.

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.