Vodafone Group PLC (NASDAQ:VOD) Given Average Rating of “Reduce” by Analysts

Shares of Vodafone Group PLC (NASDAQ:VOD) have been assigned an average rating of “Reduce” from the nine research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $10.5650.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. New Street Research raised shares of Vodafone Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Vodafone Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 31st. DZ Bank lowered shares of Vodafone Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Barclays downgraded Vodafone Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Vodafone Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 4th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vodafone Group

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $117,602,000 after purchasing an additional 8,811,061 shares during the last quarter. SALT Holding Corp. raised its position in 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 valued at $38,627,000 after purchasing an additional 3,508,086 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in Vodafone Group by 282.5% in 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 period. Jump Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Vodafone Group by 6,354.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 1,345,455 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $15,607,000 after buying an additional 1,324,611 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in shares of Vodafone Group by 235.1% during 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 7.84% of the company’s stock.

Vodafone Group Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:VOD opened at $16.22 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. Vodafone Group has a 52-week low of $11.12 and a 52-week high of $16.60. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $14.86 and a 200 day moving average of $15.06.

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.