Nokia Oyj (NYSE:NOK) Upgraded to “Buy” by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Nokia Oyj (NYSE:NOK) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Friday morning.

NOK has been the subject of a number of other reports. Barclays downgraded Nokia Oyj from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Nokia Oyj in a report on Friday, January 12th. They issued a neutral rating on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Nokia Oyj from $4.39 to $4.26 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Nokia Oyj currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $4.42.

Nokia Oyj Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:NOK opened at $3.52 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $3.53 and a 200 day moving average of $3.47. The company has a market cap of $19.80 billion, a PE ratio of 21.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Nokia Oyj has a 12-month low of $2.94 and a 12-month high of $4.36.

Nokia Oyj (NYSE:NOK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The technology company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $6.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.66 billion. Nokia Oyj had a net margin of 3.90% and a return on equity of 8.40%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.16 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Nokia Oyj will post 0.38 EPS for the current year.

Nokia Oyj Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 8th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.0323 per share. This represents a $0.13 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 22nd. Nokia Oyj’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.25%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nokia Oyj

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of NOK. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of Nokia Oyj by 18.9% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,795,249 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $26,183,000 after purchasing an additional 763,930 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Nokia Oyj by 79.1% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,029,643 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,462,000 after acquiring an additional 2,221,142 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. bought a new position in Nokia Oyj in the 1st quarter valued at $55,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Nokia Oyj by 44.9% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 62,728 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $343,000 after acquiring an additional 19,430 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in Nokia Oyj by 171.3% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 33,493 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $183,000 after acquiring an additional 21,146 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 5.28% of the company’s stock.

About Nokia Oyj

Nokia Oyj provides mobile, fixed, and cloud network solutions worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Network Infrastructure, Mobile Networks, Cloud and Network Services, and Nokia Technologies. The company provides fixed networking solutions, such as fiber and copper-based access infrastructure, in-home Wi-Fi solutions, and cloud and virtualization services; IP networking solutions, including IP access, aggregation, and edge and core routing for residential, mobile, enterprise and cloud applications; optical networks solutions that provides optical transport networks for metro, regional, and long-haul applications, and subsea applications; and submarine networks for undersea cable transmission.