Nokia (NYSE:NOK) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday after Kepler Capital Markets upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. The stock had previously closed at $6.47, but opened at $6.77. Nokia shares last traded at $6.7950, with a volume of 11,041,364 shares changing hands.

NOK has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Nokia in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Nokia in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Nokia in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Santander cut shares of Nokia to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, New Street Research set a $6.57 price target on shares of Nokia in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5.95.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NOK. Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nokia in the 1st quarter valued at about $75,000. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Nokia in the first quarter valued at about $58,000. Amundi acquired a new stake in Nokia during the first quarter valued at approximately $776,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Nokia by 27.5% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 186,997 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $985,000 after buying an additional 40,276 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of Nokia by 6,539.2% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,841,558 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $14,975,000 after acquiring an additional 2,798,758 shares in the last quarter. 5.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Nokia Stock Up 5.8%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.97 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $6.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $5.39.

Nokia (NYSE:NOK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.06 by $0.01. Nokia had a return on equity of 8.24% and a net margin of 4.65%.The firm had revenue of $5.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.67 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.06 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Nokia Corporation will post 0.34 EPS for the current year.

Nokia Company Profile

Nokia Corporation, headquartered in Espoo, Finland, is a global telecommunications and technology company with roots dating back to 1865. Over its long history the company moved from forestry and cable operations into electronics and telecommunications, becoming widely known in the 1990s and 2000s for its mobile phones. In recent years Nokia refocused its business toward network infrastructure, software and technology licensing, and research and development, following the divestiture of its handset manufacturing business and the acquisition of Alcatel‑Lucent in 2016, which brought Bell Labs into its portfolio.

Today Nokia’s core activities center on designing, building and supporting communications networks and related software.