Analysts Set Vodafone Group PLC (NASDAQ:VOD) Target Price at $72.00

Shares of Vodafone Group PLC (NASDAQ:VOD) have received a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $72.00.

VOD has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays raised shares of Vodafone Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Zacks Research raised Vodafone Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Vodafone Group to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Berenberg Bank upgraded Vodafone Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Vodafone Group in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st.

Vodafone Group Stock Performance

Shares of VOD stock opened at $14.65 on Monday. Vodafone Group has a fifty-two week low of $8.00 and a fifty-two week high of $14.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.17. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $13.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.15.

Vodafone Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 24th will be issued a $0.2567 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 434.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 24th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VOD. Keybank National Association OH grew its position in Vodafone Group by 26.9% during the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 23,095 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $305,000 after purchasing an additional 4,890 shares during the period. American Capital Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vodafone Group by 40.8% in the fourth quarter. American Capital Advisory LLC now owns 2,400 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 696 shares during the last quarter. Carrera Capital Advisors grew its holdings in Vodafone Group by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Carrera Capital Advisors now owns 19,507 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $262,000 after acquiring an additional 1,765 shares during the period. Keating Investment Counselors Inc. raised its position in Vodafone Group by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Keating Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 707,326 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $9,344,000 after acquiring an additional 2,767 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in Vodafone Group by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 24,261 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $321,000 after acquiring an additional 3,381 shares during the period. 7.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.