Vodafone Group (NASDAQ:VOD) Upgraded by UBS Group to Hold Rating

Vodafone Group (NASDAQ:VOD) was upgraded by stock analysts at UBS Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

VOD has been the subject of several other research reports. Barclays upgraded Vodafone Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Vodafone Group in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of Vodafone Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Vodafone Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $72.00.

Vodafone Group Stock Up 1.0%

Vodafone Group stock opened at $14.48 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $14.74 and a 200 day moving average of $13.06. Vodafone Group has a 12-month low of $8.05 and a 12-month high of $15.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.13.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vodafone Group

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Vodafone Group by 9,637.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,902,486 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $117,602,000 after purchasing an additional 8,811,061 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Vodafone Group by 22.9% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 27,680,971 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $295,079,000 after acquiring an additional 5,160,095 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Vodafone Group by 116.9% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,076,148 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $86,092,000 after acquiring an additional 4,352,389 shares in the last quarter. SALT Holding Corp. raised its stake in Vodafone Group by 3,039.6% during the second quarter. SALT Holding Corp. now owns 3,623,500 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $38,627,000 after acquiring an additional 3,508,086 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in Vodafone Group by 282.5% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 3,161,978 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $33,707,000 after buying an additional 2,335,306 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 7.84% of the company’s stock.

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.