BNP Paribas Upgrades Vodafone Group (NASDAQ:VOD) to “Strong Sell”

Vodafone Group (NASDAQ:VOD) was upgraded by stock analysts at BNP Paribas to a “strong sell” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on VOD. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Vodafone Group from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $136.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Berenberg Bank upgraded Vodafone Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Vodafone Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Vodafone Group in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. They set an “equal weight” rating for the company. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on Vodafone Group in a research report on Tuesday. They set an “underperform” rating and a $8.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $72.00.

Vodafone Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VOD opened at $11.66 on Tuesday. Vodafone Group has a twelve month low of $8.00 and a twelve month high of $12.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The company has a market capitalization of $27.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 0.62. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.69.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in Vodafone Group by 22.9% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 27,680,971 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $295,079,000 after acquiring an additional 5,160,095 shares during the period. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Vodafone Group by 0.7% in the second quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 25,866,761 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $275,740,000 after buying an additional 169,833 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Vodafone Group by 116.9% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,076,148 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $86,092,000 after buying an additional 4,352,389 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Vodafone Group by 1.3% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,499,770 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $51,533,000 after buying an additional 69,986 shares during the period. Finally, SALT Holding Corp. lifted its holdings in shares of Vodafone Group by 3,039.6% in the second quarter. SALT Holding Corp. now owns 3,623,500 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $38,627,000 after buying an additional 3,508,086 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 7.84% of the company’s stock.

Vodafone Group Company Profile

Vodafone Group Public Limited Company provides telecommunication services in Europe and internationally. It offers mobile connectivity services comprising end-to-end services for mobile voice and data, messaging, device management, BYOx, and telecoms management, as well as professional and consulting services; and fixed line connectivity, such as fixed voice and data, broadband, software-defined networks, managed WAN, LAN, ethernet, and satellite; and financial services, as well as business and merchant services.