The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Raises Holdings in VNET Group, Inc. - Unsponsored ADR $VNET

Key Points

• The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its VNET Group stake by 20.4% in the first quarter, purchasing 443,656 additional shares. Institutional investors collectively own 72.83% of the company.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with four Buy ratings, one Hold and one Sell; the stock has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $17.40 price target.
• VNET shares opened at $7.17, near the lower end of their 12-month range, after the company reported a significant quarterly EPS miss and continued negative profitability metrics.

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in VNET Group, Inc. - Unsponsored ADR (NASDAQ:VNET - Free Report) by 20.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,623,594 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 443,656 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.97% of VNET Group worth $22,012,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of VNET Group during the first quarter valued at $513,000. Senvest Management LLC raised its position in VNET Group by 211.7% in the 1st quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 2,779,637 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $23,321,000 after buying an additional 1,887,883 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in VNET Group by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 37,602 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $316,000 after acquiring an additional 1,098 shares during the period. Lido Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of VNET Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $126,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of VNET Group by 16.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,470,654 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $12,330,000 after acquiring an additional 209,694 shares during the period. 72.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $16.00 price objective on shares of VNET Group in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of VNET Group in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $24.79 target price on shares of VNET Group in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of VNET Group in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. They set a "buy" rating and a $12.50 target price for the company. Finally, Bank of America set a $16.30 price target on VNET Group and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $17.40.

VNET Group Stock Performance

VNET opened at $7.17 on Friday. The company's 50 day moving average is $8.46 and its 200 day moving average is $9.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.99. The company has a market cap of $1.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.23 and a beta of 0.28. VNET Group, Inc. - Unsponsored ADR has a 12-month low of $6.17 and a 12-month high of $14.48.

VNET Group (NASDAQ:VNET - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 26th. The information technology services provider reported ($1.20) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by ($1.17). The business had revenue of $390.32 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $388.47 million. VNET Group had a negative return on equity of 31.59% and a negative net margin of 22.01%. On average, equities research analysts predict that VNET Group, Inc. - Unsponsored ADR will post -0.24 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Sean Shao sold 60,000 shares of VNET Group stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.71, for a total transaction of $102,600.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 983,820 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,682,332.20. The trade was a 5.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 12.10% of the company's stock.

VNET Group Company Profile

VNET Group, Inc NASDAQ: VNET is a leading carrier-neutral internet data center (IDC) services provider in China. Established in 1999 and headquartered in Beijing, the company delivers a full spectrum of infrastructure solutions that support the growing digital economy. Its core offerings include data center colocation, managed hosting, network connectivity, and disaster recovery services designed to meet the performance and reliability requirements of enterprise and internet content customers.

The company's product portfolio spans private cloud, public cloud and hybrid cloud deployments, enabling clients to scale computing resources on demand.

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