Independent Financial Group LLC Invests $8.41 Million in Vodafone Group PLC $VOD

Independent Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Vodafone Group PLC (NASDAQ:VOD) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 559,628 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $8,406,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VOD. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Vodafone Group by 9,637.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,902,486 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $117,602,000 after purchasing an additional 8,811,061 shares in the last quarter. SALT Holding Corp. grew its position in shares of Vodafone Group by 3,039.6% during the 2nd quarter. SALT Holding Corp. now owns 3,623,500 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $38,627,000 after purchasing an additional 3,508,086 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,335,306 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Vodafone Group by 6,354.9% in the third quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 1,345,455 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $15,607,000 after buying an additional 1,324,611 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of Vodafone Group by 235.1% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,548,454 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $16,507,000 after buying an additional 1,086,405 shares during the period. 7.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Vodafone Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VOD opened at $15.62 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $14.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.11. Vodafone Group PLC has a 1 year low of $10.66 and a 1 year high of $16.60.

Vodafone Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 30th. Shareholders 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on VOD shares. Weiss Ratings lowered Vodafone Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Zacks Research downgraded Vodafone Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. UBS Group raised Vodafone Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Vodafone Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 31st. Finally, New Street Research raised Vodafone Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $52.38.

Vodafone Group Company Profile

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.