Vodafone Group Public Limited Declares Semi-annual Dividend of $0.24 (NASDAQ:VOD)

Vodafone Group Public Limited (NASDAQ:VOD) announced a semi-annual dividend on Wednesday, May 21st, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.2355 per share by the cell phone carrier on Friday, August 1st. This represents a dividend yield of 6.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th.

Vodafone Group Public has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 11.5% annually over the last three years. Vodafone Group Public has a payout ratio of 39.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Vodafone Group Public to earn $0.99 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.47 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 47.5%.

Vodafone Group Public Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of VOD opened at $10.42 on Thursday. Vodafone Group Public has a twelve month low of $8.00 and a twelve month high of $10.51. The company has a market cap of $26.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $8.90.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Vodafone Group Public by 21.4% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 66,351 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $622,000 after acquiring an additional 11,703 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in Vodafone Group Public by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 296,581 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,779,000 after acquiring an additional 5,592 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth grew its holdings in Vodafone Group Public by 19.7% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 20,830 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $195,000 after acquiring an additional 3,435 shares in the last quarter. 7.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America downgraded shares of Vodafone Group Public from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Vodafone Group Public from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Vodafone Group Public from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “underweight” rating on shares of Vodafone Group Public in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Vodafone Group Public Company Profile

Vodafone Group Public Limited Company provides telecommunication services in Europe and internationally. It offers mobile connectivity services comprising end-to-end services for mobile voice and data, messaging, device management, BYOx, and telecoms management, as well as professional and consulting services; and fixed line connectivity, such as fixed voice and data, broadband, software-defined networks, managed WAN, LAN, ethernet, and satellite; and financial services, as well as business and merchant services.