VEON (NASDAQ:VEON) Hits New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

VEON Ltd. (NASDAQ:VEON) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $65.50 and last traded at $64.9650, with a volume of 52941 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $62.32.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VEON. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of VEON in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Northland Securities started coverage on shares of VEON in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of VEON in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Zacks Research upgraded VEON from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded VEON from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, August 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, VEON has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.00.

VEON Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.97. The firm has a market cap of $4.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.68 and a beta of 1.63. The company’s fifty day moving average is $54.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.00.

VEON (NASDAQ:VEON) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 31st. The Wireless communications provider reported $1.69 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 last year, the company posted $8.30 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that VEON Ltd. will post 7.39 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Augie K. Fabela II purchased 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $56.02 per share, with a total value of $280,100.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 96,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,377,920. This trade represents a 5.49% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Institutional Trading of VEON

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in VEON by 7.2% in the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 7,400 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $386,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of VEON by 82.2% in the second quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 29,518 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $1,541,000 after buying an additional 13,315 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in VEON by 2.8% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 69,754 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $3,230,000 after acquiring an additional 1,923 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in VEON by 64.1% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 7,597 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $352,000 after acquiring an additional 2,967 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dorsey Wright & Associates grew its holdings in VEON by 45.7% during the 1st quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates now owns 35,457 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $1,642,000 after acquiring an additional 11,129 shares in the last quarter. 21.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.