Vodafone Group (NASDAQ:VOD) Shares Gap Down After Earnings Miss

Vodafone Group PLC (NASDAQ:VOD)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday after the company announced weaker than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $16.32, but opened at $14.93. Vodafone Group shares last traded at $14.8650, with a volume of 2,157,016 shares traded.

The cell phone carrier reported ($0.29) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by ($0.61). The company had revenue of $11.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.33 billion.

Vodafone Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.2766 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This represents a dividend yield of 357.0%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group raised Vodafone Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Weiss Ratings downgraded Vodafone Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Vodafone Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vodafone Group

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dupree Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vodafone Group in the third quarter valued at about $3,097,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its stake in Vodafone Group by 274.6% in the third quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 193,827 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,248,000 after acquiring an additional 142,086 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its stake in Vodafone Group by 17.3% in the third quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 643,452 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $7,464,000 after acquiring an additional 95,088 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC purchased a new stake in Vodafone Group in the third quarter worth about $1,408,000. Finally, Aquatic Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Vodafone Group in the third quarter worth about $7,492,000. Institutional investors own 7.84% of the company’s stock.

Vodafone Group Stock Down 0.2%

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $15.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

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.