VEON (NASDAQ:VEON) Raised to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

VEON (NASDAQ:VEON) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Sunday.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $74.00 price target on shares of VEON and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Zacks Research raised VEON from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of VEON in a report on Monday, June 15th. Northland Securities started coverage on VEON in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $70.00 target price for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of VEON from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.00.

VEON Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VEON opened at $55.90 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $52.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.44. VEON has a fifty-two week low of $42.60 and a fifty-two week high of $64.00. The company has a market capitalization of $4.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.76 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

VEON (NASDAQ:VEON) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 31st. The Wireless communications provider reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.23. VEON had a net margin of 1.24% and a return on equity of 14.93%. The firm had revenue of $1.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $8.30 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that VEON will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at VEON

In other news, Director Augie K. Fabela II bought 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $56.00 per share, for a total transaction of $840,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 91,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,096,000. This represents a 19.74% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VEON. Lingotto Investment Management LLP raised its holdings in shares of VEON by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Lingotto Investment Management LLP now owns 6,060,852 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $318,619,000 after purchasing an additional 16,758 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in VEON by 66.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 977,400 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $51,382,000 after buying an additional 390,294 shares during the last quarter. Solus Alternative Asset Management LP raised its stake in VEON by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Solus Alternative Asset Management LP now owns 887,002 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $46,630,000 after buying an additional 30,900 shares during the period. Panview Capital Ltd raised its stake in VEON by 24.7% in the fourth quarter. Panview Capital Ltd now owns 514,927 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $27,070,000 after buying an additional 101,906 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its position in shares of VEON by 31.5% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 276,426 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $15,046,000 after buying an additional 66,153 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 21.30% of the company’s stock.

VEON Company Profile

VEON Ltd (NASDAQ: VEON) is a global telecommunications and digital services provider headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Originally founded as VimpelCom in Russia in 1992, the company rebranded to VEON in 2017 to reflect its transformation into a technology-driven operator. VEON operates as a holding company with direct investments in mobile and internet service providers across multiple emerging markets, delivering voice, data and digital services to individual and enterprise customers.

Through its operating subsidiaries, VEON offers a broad portfolio that includes 2G/3G/4G mobile access, fixed broadband, digital lifestyle applications and mobile financial services.