Investors Buy Large Volume of Vodafone Group Call Options (NASDAQ:VOD)

Vodafone Group PLC (NASDAQ:VOD) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock investors purchased 5,978 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 189% compared to the typical volume of 2,072 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vodafone Group

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Vodafone Group by 156.8% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,275 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 1,389 shares during the last quarter. Bayban lifted its position in Vodafone Group by 6,696.7% during the first quarter. Bayban now owns 2,039 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 2,009 shares during the period. American Capital Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 696 shares during the last quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Vodafone Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Vodafone Group by 81.8% during the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 2,651 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 1,193 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 7.84% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on VOD. Bank of America downgraded Vodafone Group from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $13.13 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. New Street Research raised Vodafone Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Vodafone Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 4th. DZ Bank lowered shares of Vodafone Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Vodafone Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $52.38.

Vodafone Group Stock Up 5.5%

Shares of NASDAQ VOD traded up $0.81 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $15.54. 5,425,891 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,316,285. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $14.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $14.67. Vodafone Group has a 52 week low of $10.66 and a 52 week high of $16.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Vodafone Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a $0.2766 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This represents a dividend yield of 376.0%.

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.