Telefônica Brasil S.A. (NYSE:VIV) Short Interest Up 34.3% in February

Telefônica Brasil S.A. (NYSE:VIV - Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,230,000 shares, a growth of 34.3% from the January 31st total of 1,660,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 940,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days. Approximately 0.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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Telefônica Brasil Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of VIV traded up $0.09 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $8.53. The stock had a trading volume of 473,295 shares, compared to its average volume of 867,711. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $8.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $8.94. The firm has a market cap of $14.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.76. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $7.47 and a fifty-two week high of $10.63.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in Telefônica Brasil by 41.1% during the 3rd 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 period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 385,207 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its holdings 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 during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in Telefônica Brasil during the third quarter valued at approximately $5,135,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Telefônica Brasil by 67.8% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,818 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 1,543 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 5.16% of the company's stock.

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.