Insider Buying: VEON (NASDAQ:VEON) Director Purchases $840,000.00 in Stock

VEON Ltd. (NASDAQ:VEON) Director Augie Fabela II purchased 15,000 shares of VEON stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $56.00 per share, for a total transaction of $840,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 91,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,096,000. This represents a 19.74% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

VEON Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of VEON stock traded up $0.26 during trading on Monday, reaching $57.36. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 11,092 shares, compared to its average volume of 94,510. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30. The company has a market cap of $4.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.57 and a beta of 1.65. VEON Ltd. has a 1-year low of $42.60 and a 1-year high of $64.00. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $52.43.

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, beating the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the company posted $8.30 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that VEON Ltd. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on VEON shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $74.00 price objective on shares of VEON and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Zacks Research raised shares of VEON from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of VEON from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Northland Securities initiated coverage on shares of VEON in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $70.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of VEON from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On VEON

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of VEON by 66.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 977,400 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $51,382,000 after purchasing an additional 390,294 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp purchased a new stake in VEON in the third quarter valued at $15,005,000. Panview Capital Ltd boosted its holdings in VEON by 24.7% in the fourth quarter. Panview Capital Ltd now owns 514,927 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $27,070,000 after purchasing an additional 101,906 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its position in VEON by 77.6% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 225,643 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $11,862,000 after purchasing an additional 98,618 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its position in VEON by 275.3% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 133,478 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $7,265,000 after purchasing an additional 97,913 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.30% of the company’s stock.

About VEON

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.