VEON (NASDAQ:VEON) Shares Gap Up on Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Shares of VEON Ltd. (NASDAQ:VEON) gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock had previously closed at $50.00, but opened at $53.41. VEON shares last traded at $56.17, with a volume of 59,953 shares traded.

The Wireless communications provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.40. VEON had a return on equity of 47.86% and a net margin of 12.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on VEON shares. Zacks Research raised VEON from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of VEON from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $74.00 target price on shares of VEON and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of VEON in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $67.00.

Institutional Trading of VEON

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VEON. Shah Capital Management boosted its holdings in VEON by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Shah Capital Management now owns 4,895,252 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $257,343,000 after purchasing an additional 70,831 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in VEON in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,078,000. Panview Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of VEON during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $22,481,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in shares of VEON by 77.6% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 225,643 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $11,862,000 after buying an additional 98,618 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dorsey Wright & Associates purchased a new position in shares of VEON in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,273,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 21.30% of the company’s stock.

VEON Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $4.08 billion, a PE ratio of 7.56 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.91. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $50.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $51.51.

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.