Vodafone Group Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:VOD)

Vodafone Group PLC (NASDAQ:VOD) was the target of some unusual options trading on Monday. Traders bought 3,839 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 51% compared to the average volume of 2,538 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vodafone Group

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted 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 worth $295,079,000 after acquiring an additional 5,160,095 shares in the last quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC boosted its position in Vodafone Group by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 26,095,086 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $302,703,000 after buying an additional 228,325 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Vodafone Group by 116.9% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,076,148 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $86,092,000 after purchasing an additional 4,352,389 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Vodafone Group by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 7,331,144 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $85,041,000 after purchasing an additional 610,409 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Vodafone Group by 1.4% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,518,066 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $64,010,000 after buying an additional 76,534 shares in the last quarter. 7.84% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on VOD shares. Barclays raised shares of Vodafone Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 8th. Wall Street Zen cut Vodafone Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 15th. Zacks Research cut shares of Vodafone Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. UBS Group reiterated a “sell” rating on shares of Vodafone Group in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Vodafone Group in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and seven have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $72.00.

Vodafone Group Stock Performance

Shares of Vodafone Group stock traded up $0.03 during trading on Monday, hitting $13.15. 2,638,347 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,304,060. Vodafone Group has a 52-week low of $8.00 and a 52-week high of $13.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.17. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $12.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.59.

Vodafone Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 24th will be given a dividend of $0.2567 per share. This represents a yield of 434.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 24th.

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.