Vodafone Group PLC (NASDAQ:VOD) Receives Consensus Rating of “Reduce” from Brokerages

Shares of Vodafone Group PLC (NASDAQ:VOD) have been given a consensus rating of “Reduce” by the ten ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $52.3767.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on VOD shares. Barclays lowered shares of Vodafone Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Vodafone Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Vodafone Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. New Street Research raised shares of Vodafone Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Vodafone Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 31st.

Vodafone Group Price Performance

Shares of VOD stock opened at $15.74 on Monday. Vodafone Group has a 1-year low of $10.66 and a 1-year high of $16.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $14.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.76.

Vodafone Group Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vodafone Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VOD. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vodafone Group during the 4th quarter worth $922,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vodafone Group by 68.0% in the fourth quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 352,038 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,650,000 after purchasing an additional 142,440 shares during the period. Shrier Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Vodafone Group during the fourth quarter worth about $1,002,000. Capital Wealth Planning LLC raised its stake in Vodafone Group by 87.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 1,028,112 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $13,715,000 after purchasing an additional 478,977 shares during the period. Finally, ABC Arbitrage SA boosted its holdings in Vodafone Group by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA now owns 3,326,511 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $49,964,000 after purchasing an additional 98,922 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 7.84% of the company’s stock.

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.