Vodafone Group (NASDAQ:VOD) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Vodafone Group (NASDAQ:VOD) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Saturday.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. New Street Research upgraded Vodafone Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. DZ Bank cut shares of Vodafone Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Bank of America cut shares of Vodafone Group from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $13.13 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Barclays cut shares of Vodafone Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Vodafone Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $10.57.

Vodafone Group Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:VOD opened at $16.04 on Friday. Vodafone Group has a 52-week low of $11.12 and a 52-week high of $16.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.15.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vodafone Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in Vodafone Group by 72.4% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 866,316 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $13,014,000 after purchasing an additional 363,694 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Vodafone Group by 7,003.0% during the second quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 788,577 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $10,429,000 after buying an additional 777,475 shares in the last quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Vodafone Group during the fourth quarter worth about $922,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its holdings in Vodafone Group by 68.0% in the 4th quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 352,038 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,650,000 after buying an additional 142,440 shares during the period. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its position in shares of Vodafone Group by 385.7% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 85,737 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,134,000 after buying an additional 68,086 shares in the last quarter. 7.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.