VEON (NASDAQ:VEON) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of VEON (NASDAQ:VEON) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Saturday.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on VEON. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of VEON in a report on Monday, June 15th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $74.00 target price on shares of VEON and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of VEON from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Northland Securities started coverage on shares of VEON in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $70.00 price target for the company. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of VEON from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.00.

VEON Stock Up 1.6%

VEON stock opened at $53.12 on Friday. VEON has a fifty-two week low of $42.60 and a fifty-two week high of $64.00. The company has a market capitalization of $3.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.49 and a beta of 1.65. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $52.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $52.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.86.

VEON (NASDAQ:VEON) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The Wireless communications provider reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.23. VEON had a return on equity of 15.37% and a net margin of 1.24%.The company had revenue of $1.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $8.30 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that VEON will post 6.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On VEON

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of VEON. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its position in shares of VEON by 77.6% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 225,643 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $11,862,000 after acquiring an additional 98,618 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in VEON in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $618,000. Lingotto Investment Management LLP lifted its position in VEON by 0.3% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in VEON during the 4th quarter valued at $1,293,000. Finally, K2 Principal Fund L.P. purchased a new stake in VEON during the 4th quarter valued at $1,015,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 21.30% of the company’s stock.

VEON Company Profile

VEON Ltd (NASDAQ: VEON) is a global telecommunications and digital services provider headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Originally founded as VimpelCom in Russia in 1992, the company rebranded to VEON in 2017 to reflect its transformation into a technology-driven operator. VEON operates as a holding company with direct investments in mobile and internet service providers across multiple emerging markets, delivering voice, data and digital services to individual and enterprise customers.

Through its operating subsidiaries, VEON offers a broad portfolio that includes 2G/3G/4G mobile access, fixed broadband, digital lifestyle applications and mobile financial services.