Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Vodafone Group Call Options (NASDAQ:VOD)

Vodafone Group PLC (NASDAQ:VOD) saw some unusual options trading on Monday. Stock investors bought 5,262 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 57% compared to the typical volume of 3,349 call options.

Vodafone Group Price Performance

VOD opened at $14.23 on Tuesday. Vodafone Group has a 1 year low of $8.00 and a 1 year high of $14.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $12.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.05.

Vodafone Group Announces Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vodafone Group

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. PFG Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vodafone Group by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 21,844 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $289,000 after acquiring an additional 2,495 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in Vodafone Group by 156.8% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,275 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389 shares during the last quarter. Choreo LLC grew its stake in Vodafone Group by 41.2% in the 4th quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 32,103 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $425,000 after purchasing an additional 9,372 shares during the period. HF Advisory Group LLC increased its position in shares of Vodafone Group by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 223,712 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,955,000 after purchasing an additional 15,265 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Vodafone Group by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 697,352 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,212,000 after purchasing an additional 53,900 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 7.84% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on VOD. UBS Group reiterated a “sell” rating on shares of Vodafone Group in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Wall Street Zen cut Vodafone Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 15th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Vodafone Group to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Vodafone Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Vodafone Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $72.00.

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.