Vodafone Group (NASDAQ:VOD) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Vodafone Group PLC (NASDAQ:VOD)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Friday after New Street Research upgraded the stock from a neutral rating to a buy rating. The stock had previously closed at $13.08, but opened at $14.71. Vodafone Group shares last traded at $14.7270, with a volume of 3,559,676 shares.

VOD has been the topic of a number of other research reports. UBS Group upgraded shares of Vodafone Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Barclays downgraded Vodafone Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. DZ Bank downgraded Vodafone Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Zacks Research downgraded Vodafone Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Vodafone Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $52.38.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Vodafone Group by 21.4% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 66,351 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $622,000 after purchasing an additional 11,703 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of Vodafone Group by 1.9% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 296,581 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,779,000 after buying an additional 5,592 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth raised its position in shares of Vodafone Group by 19.7% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 20,830 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $195,000 after buying an additional 3,435 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Vodafone Group by 13.4% in the second quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 19,278 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $206,000 after buying an additional 2,285 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Vodafone Group during the second quarter worth $140,000. 7.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Vodafone Group Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.14. The company’s 50 day moving average is $14.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.66.

Vodafone Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a $0.2766 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 376.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th.

About Vodafone Group

Vodafone Group plc is a British multinational telecommunications company headquartered in London. It provides a wide range of communications services to consumer and enterprise customers, including mobile voice and data, fixed-line broadband, cable and pay-TV, and wholesale network services. The company also offers business-oriented solutions such as cloud and hosting, managed networks, unified communications, and Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity and platform services.

Vodafone operates through a combination of wholly owned subsidiaries, joint ventures and partner arrangements across multiple countries, with a particularly large presence in Europe and in several African markets.