VEON (NASDAQ:VEON) Shares Gap Up on Analyst Upgrade

VEON Ltd. (NASDAQ:VEON) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday after Wall Street Zen upgraded the stock from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating. The stock had previously closed at $69.41, but opened at $72.09. VEON shares last traded at $71.8260, with a volume of 14,264 shares.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on VEON. Northland Securities began coverage on shares of VEON in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of VEON in a report on Monday, June 15th. Zacks Research raised VEON from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of VEON in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director K II acquired 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $56.02 per share, for a total transaction of $280,100.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 96,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,377,920. This represents a 5.49% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On VEON

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. K2 Principal Fund L.P. bought a new position in shares of VEON during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,015,000. Lingotto Investment Management LLP boosted its holdings in shares of VEON by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Lingotto Investment Management LLP now owns 6,060,852 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $318,619,000 after acquiring an additional 16,758 shares during the period. Cygnus Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in VEON by 36.8% in the 2nd quarter. Cygnus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 53,180 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $2,777,000 after purchasing an additional 14,300 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of VEON by 82.2% during the second quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 29,518 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $1,541,000 after buying an additional 13,315 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dorsey Wright & Associates grew its holdings in VEON by 45.7% in the 1st quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates now owns 35,457 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $1,642,000 after buying an additional 11,129 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.30% of the company’s stock.

VEON Stock Up 1.6%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $60.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $54.85. The firm has a market cap of $5.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.94 and a beta of 1.63.

VEON (NASDAQ:VEON) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The Wireless communications provider reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.23. VEON had a return on equity of 14.93% and a net margin of 1.24%.The company had revenue of $1.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $8.30 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that VEON Ltd. will post 7.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VEON Company Profile

VEON Ltd. (NASDAQ:VEON) is a global digital communications and services company that provides mobile connectivity, broadband, and digital products in high-growth markets. Its telecommunications operations serve consumers and businesses through mobile voice and data services, messaging, fixed broadband, and related connectivity solutions.

VEON operates through well-known local brands, including Kyivstar in Ukraine, Jazz in Pakistan, Banglalink in Bangladesh, and Beeline in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.