Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) Short Interest Up 24.2% in April

Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) was the target of a large increase in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 68,243,622 shares, an increase of 24.2% from the March 31st total of 54,959,641 shares. Approximately 1.2% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 92,258,863 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.7 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of Nokia by 248.7% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,815 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 2,721 shares during the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC lifted its position in Nokia by 33,457.1% in the 4th quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 4,698 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 4,684 shares during the last quarter. Dorato Capital Management bought a new stake in Nokia in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Smithfield Trust Co bought a new stake in Nokia in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Wexford Capital LP bought a new stake in Nokia in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. 5.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Nokia

Here are the key news stories impacting Nokia this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Jim Cramer publicly called Nokia “a winner” after the company’s upbeat Q1 results and guidance raise, amplifying retail and institutional interest and supporting the rally. Jim Cramer on Nokia
• Positive Sentiment: Nokia agreed to sell its FWA CPE business to Inseego and will take a meaningful equity stake, creating a strategic partner for joint go?to?market activity (including 6G/edge work) that lets Nokia focus on core network infrastructure while keeping upside to FWA growth. Nokia exits FWA CPE business
• Neutral Sentiment: The buyer (Inseego) says the deal will materially scale its revenue — nearly doubling its top line per some analyst commentary — which supports the strategic rationale for Nokia’s stake, but most immediate cash proceeds to Nokia are modest. Inseego revenue impact
• Neutral Sentiment: The FWA CPE unit was sold for roughly $20m — a small one?time cash inflow relative to Nokia’s market cap; the strategic value (stake + partnership) is the bigger takeaway for long?term investors. Sale price details
• Neutral Sentiment: Nokia highlighted product innovation (an end?to?end quantum?safe demo kit), underlining its push into secure, next?gen networking tech — positive for positioning but unlikely to move near?term earnings materially. Quantum-safe demo kit
• Negative Sentiment: Insider/manager share disposals were reported (Prosi sold a block of shares), which investors may view as a modest negative signal even though the transactions appear limited in size. Managers’ transactions (Prosi)

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on NOK shares. Arete Research raised shares of Nokia from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating on shares of Nokia in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Nokia in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Nokia from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, April 25th. Finally, Santander raised shares of Nokia from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $9.71.

Nokia Stock Performance

Shares of Nokia stock traded up $0.38 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $13.29. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 148,116,300 shares, compared to its average volume of 100,344,152. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $8.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $7.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.58. Nokia has a one year low of $4.00 and a one year high of $13.89. The stock has a market cap of $76.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 83.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.12.

Nokia (NYSE:NOK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The technology company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Nokia had a net margin of 4.02% and a return on equity of 9.22%. The company had revenue of $5.21 billion for the quarter. As a group, analysts expect that Nokia will post 0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nokia Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 28th will be given a $0.0468 dividend. This represents a $0.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 28th. This is an increase from Nokia’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. Nokia’s payout ratio is 81.25%.

About Nokia

Nokia Corporation, headquartered in Espoo, Finland, is a global telecommunications and technology company with roots dating back to 1865. Over its long history the company moved from forestry and cable operations into electronics and telecommunications, becoming widely known in the 1990s and 2000s for its mobile phones. In recent years Nokia refocused its business toward network infrastructure, software and technology licensing, and research and development, following the divestiture of its handset manufacturing business and the acquisition of Alcatel?Lucent in 2016, which brought Bell Labs into its portfolio.

Today Nokia’s core activities center on designing, building and supporting communications networks and related software.