Vodafone Group PLC (NASDAQ:VOD) Given Average Recommendation of “Reduce” by Brokerages

Shares of Vodafone Group PLC (NASDAQ:VOD) have been assigned an average rating of “Reduce” from the ten ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $52.3767.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on VOD. Barclays cut Vodafone Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th. UBS Group raised Vodafone Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. DZ Bank lowered Vodafone Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Zacks Research cut shares of Vodafone Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Vodafone Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 31st.

Institutional Trading of Vodafone Group

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC increased its position in shares of Vodafone Group by 3.0% in the first quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 26,854,952 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $403,361,000 after buying an additional 784,305 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Vodafone Group by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,286,509 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $201,935,000 after buying an additional 182,574 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew 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 valued at $117,602,000 after acquiring an additional 8,811,061 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings 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 worth $85,041,000 after acquiring an additional 610,409 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SALT Holding Corp. raised its position in Vodafone Group by 5.5% during the third quarter. SALT Holding Corp. now owns 3,821,000 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $44,324,000 after acquiring an additional 197,500 shares during the period. 7.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vodafone Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:VOD opened at $13.81 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $15.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. Vodafone Group has a one year low of $10.28 and a one year high of $16.60.

Vodafone Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.2766 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This represents a dividend yield of 376.0%.

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.