Nokia (NYSE:NOK) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Kepler Capital Markets upgraded Nokia from Hold to Buy, prompting a gap up (closed $6.47, opened $6.77, last ~$6.80) on heavy volume (~11.0M shares).
• Nokia beat quarterly estimates, reporting $0.07 EPS vs $0.06 expected and revenue of $5.61B (up 11.6% year-over-year), supporting the stock's upward move.
• Large institutional buying—Arrowstreet (+50%), Thrivent (+35,010%), and Pzena (+17%) significantly increased holdings—while analysts' consensus is a "Moderate Buy" with a $5.95 price target.

Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK - Get Free Report) shares gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday after Kepler Capital Markets upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. The stock had previously closed at $6.47, but opened at $6.77. Nokia shares last traded at $6.7950, with a volume of 11,041,364 shares.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on NOK. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Nokia in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Santander downgraded Nokia to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. New Street Research set a $6.57 price objective on Nokia in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Nokia from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Danske raised shares of Nokia from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 21st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Nokia presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $5.95.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Nokia by 50.0% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 43,424,695 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $208,873,000 after purchasing an additional 14,482,665 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in Nokia by 35,010.3% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 12,655,143 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $60,871,000 after acquiring an additional 12,619,099 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Nokia by 17.0% in the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 80,329,917 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $386,387,000 after acquiring an additional 11,667,677 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Nokia during the first quarter valued at about $45,207,000. Finally, Folketrygdfondet raised its holdings in shares of Nokia by 66.6% in the 3rd quarter. Folketrygdfondet now owns 17,380,530 shares of the technology company's stock worth $83,600,000 after purchasing an additional 6,950,487 shares during the period. 5.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nokia Stock Up 5.8%

The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.97 and a beta of 0.77. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $6.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $5.39.

Nokia (NYSE:NOK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.06 by $0.01. Nokia had a net margin of 4.65% and a return on equity of 8.24%. The firm had revenue of $5.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.06 earnings per share. Nokia's revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Nokia Corporation will post 0.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Nokia

Nokia Corporation, headquartered in Espoo, Finland, is a global telecommunications and technology company with roots dating back to 1865. Over its long history the company moved from forestry and cable operations into electronics and telecommunications, becoming widely known in the 1990s and 2000s for its mobile phones. In recent years Nokia refocused its business toward network infrastructure, software and technology licensing, and research and development, following the divestiture of its handset manufacturing business and the acquisition of Alcatel‑Lucent in 2016, which brought Bell Labs into its portfolio.

Today Nokia's core activities center on designing, building and supporting communications networks and related software.

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