VNET Group (NASDAQ:VNET) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

VNET Group, Inc. – Unsponsored ADR (NASDAQ:VNET) shares gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $8.87, but opened at $9.45. VNET Group shares last traded at $9.8650, with a volume of 2,636,523 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VNET has been the subject of several research reports. Zacks Research raised shares of VNET Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $16.00 price objective on shares of VNET Group in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $24.79 price objective on shares of VNET Group in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Bank of America set a $16.30 price objective on VNET Group and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of VNET Group in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, VNET Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.03.

VNET Group Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.99. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $9.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.78. The company has a market capitalization of $2.38 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.42 and a beta of 0.25.

VNET Group (NASDAQ:VNET) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 26th. The information technology services provider reported ($1.20) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by ($1.17). VNET Group had a negative return on equity of 31.59% and a negative net margin of 22.01%.The business had revenue of $390.32 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $388.47 million. On average, equities analysts predict that VNET Group, Inc. – Unsponsored ADR will post 0.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at VNET Group

In other news, Director Sean Shao sold 60,000 shares of VNET Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.71, for a total transaction of $102,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 983,820 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,682,332.20. The trade was a 5.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director David Lifeng Chen sold 83,544 shares of VNET Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.51, for a total value of $126,151.44. Following the transaction, the director owned 334,164 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $504,587.64. This represents a 20.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 152,616 shares of company stock valued at $244,083 over the last quarter. 12.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of VNET Group

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of VNET Group by 3.0% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 37,602 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $316,000 after buying an additional 1,098 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of VNET Group by 26.8% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,495 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 1,160 shares in the last quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of VNET Group by 6.1% during the third quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 21,491 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $222,000 after buying an additional 1,237 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of VNET Group by 52.2% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,157 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 1,426 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of VNET Group by 14.5% during the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 11,446 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $118,000 after buying an additional 1,446 shares in the last quarter. 72.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

VNET Group Company Profile

VNET Group, Inc (NASDAQ: VNET) is a leading carrier-neutral internet data center (IDC) services provider in China. Established in 1999 and headquartered in Beijing, the company delivers a full spectrum of infrastructure solutions that support the growing digital economy. Its core offerings include data center colocation, managed hosting, network connectivity, and disaster recovery services designed to meet the performance and reliability requirements of enterprise and internet content customers.

The company’s product portfolio spans private cloud, public cloud and hybrid cloud deployments, enabling clients to scale computing resources on demand.