Vodafone Group PLC $VOD Shares Purchased by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Vodafone Group PLC (NASDAQ:VOD) by 24.7% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,071,518 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 410,353 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Vodafone Group were worth $22,082,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Vodafone Group by 11.3% during the first quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 86,886 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $814,000 after buying an additional 8,844 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its position in shares of Vodafone Group by 11.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 202,777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,900,000 after acquiring an additional 20,630 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Vodafone Group by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 153,616 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,439,000 after acquiring an additional 6,992 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in shares of Vodafone Group by 63,786.2% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,597,156 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $14,965,000 after acquiring an additional 1,594,656 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Vodafone Group during the first quarter worth $1,117,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 7.84% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VOD has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research lowered Vodafone Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 14th. BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on shares of Vodafone Group in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $8.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Vodafone Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 15th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Vodafone Group in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Vodafone Group in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and seven have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Vodafone Group currently has a consensus rating of “Strong Sell” and a consensus price target of $72.00.

Vodafone Group Price Performance

VOD stock opened at $12.13 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.26. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.25. Vodafone Group PLC has a 52 week low of $8.00 and a 52 week high of $12.72.

Vodafone Group Announces Dividend

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

Vodafone Group 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.