GDS Holdings (NASDAQ:GDS) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts assign GDS a “Moderate Buy” consensus: five rate the stock a buy, one a strong buy and two a hold, with an average 12-month price target of $48.33.
• GDS shares were trading at $31.97 after rising 8.1%, while the company reported quarterly EPS of $1.53—well above the expected $0.03 loss—and revenue growth of 23.7% year over year.
• Institutional ownership stands at 33.71%, with several funds increasing their positions, although two company insiders recently sold shares.

GDS Holdings (NASDAQ:GDS - Get Free Report) has been given an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the eight brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $48.3286.

Several brokerages have recently commented on GDS. Wall Street Zen raised shares of GDS from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. TD Cowen cut their price objective on GDS from $37.00 to $36.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Weiss Ratings upgraded GDS from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Piper Sandler set a $36.00 target price on GDS in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Zacks Research lowered GDS from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th.

GDS Trading Up 8.1%

GDS opened at $31.97 on Friday. GDS has a 12-month low of $26.97 and a 12-month high of $48.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.41 billion, a PE ratio of 20.36 and a beta of 0.41. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $32.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.30.

GDS (NASDAQ:GDS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 15th. The company reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $1.56. The company had revenue of $426.12 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $436.44 million. GDS had a net margin of 23.83% and a return on equity of 15.62%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 23.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.47 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that GDS will post 5.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at GDS

In related news, Director Judy Qing Ye sold 37,394 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.21, for a total transaction of $1,354,036.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Yixin Qian sold 10,000 shares of GDS stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.25, for a total transaction of $352,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 66,865 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,356,991.25. This represents a 13.01% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 7.99% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in GDS by 6.2% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 7,330 shares of the company's stock worth $295,000 after acquiring an additional 429 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in GDS by 25.5% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,177,301 shares of the company's stock worth $87,723,000 after acquiring an additional 442,414 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in GDS by 73.5% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,160 shares of the company's stock worth $87,000 after acquiring an additional 915 shares during the last quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in GDS by 640.6% in the first quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 780,979 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,466,000 after acquiring an additional 675,531 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in GDS in the first quarter valued at approximately $11,988,000. 33.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

GDS Company Profile

GDS Holdings Limited, founded in 2001 and headquartered in Shanghai, is a leading network-neutral data center services provider in China. The company operates a portfolio of state-of-the-art data center facilities designed to support the mission-critical IT infrastructure of cloud service providers, internet enterprises, financial institutions, and government entities. GDS was among the first Chinese providers to offer high-density colocation solutions, catering to customers with demanding computing and storage requirements.

GDS specializes in delivering scalable colocation, cross-connect, and interconnection services within its facilities, enabling clients to establish high-speed, low-latency connections to major cloud platforms and internet exchange points.

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