Nokia (NYSE:NOK) Shares Up 2.9% - What's Next?

Key Points

• Nokia shares rose 2.9% intraday to $13.29 on Friday with heavy volume (141.9M vs. average 61.6M), driven by upbeat Q1 results/guidance and a public endorsement from Jim Cramer supporting the rally.
• Nokia agreed to sell its FWA CPE unit to Inseego while taking a meaningful equity stake, a strategic partnership aimed at 6G/edge opportunities; the unit fetched roughly $20 million, so near‑term cash proceeds are modest but long‑term upside is the key takeaway.
• Brokerages have mostly upgraded the stock to a consensus "Moderate Buy" despite an average target price of $9.71 below the current share price; Nokia also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.0468 (annualized $0.19, ~1.4% yield) while trading at a high valuation (P/E ~83).

Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK - Get Free Report) shot up 2.9% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $13.89 and last traded at $13.29. 141,877,091 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 130% from the average session volume of 61,645,703 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.91.

Nokia News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Nokia this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Jim Cramer publicly called Nokia “a winner” after the company’s upbeat Q1 results and guidance raise, amplifying retail and institutional interest and supporting the rally. Jim Cramer on Nokia
• Positive Sentiment: Nokia agreed to sell its FWA CPE business to Inseego and will take a meaningful equity stake, creating a strategic partner for joint go‑to‑market activity (including 6G/edge work) that lets Nokia focus on core network infrastructure while keeping upside to FWA growth. Nokia exits FWA CPE business
• Neutral Sentiment: The buyer (Inseego) says the deal will materially scale its revenue — nearly doubling its top line per some analyst commentary — which supports the strategic rationale for Nokia’s stake, but most immediate cash proceeds to Nokia are modest. Inseego revenue impact
• Neutral Sentiment: The FWA CPE unit was sold for roughly $20m — a small one‑time cash inflow relative to Nokia’s market cap; the strategic value (stake + partnership) is the bigger takeaway for long‑term investors. Sale price details
• Neutral Sentiment: Nokia highlighted product innovation (an end‑to‑end quantum‑safe demo kit), underlining its push into secure, next‑gen networking tech — positive for positioning but unlikely to move near‑term earnings materially. Quantum-safe demo kit
• Negative Sentiment: Insider/manager share disposals were reported (Prosi sold a block of shares), which investors may view as a modest negative signal even though the transactions appear limited in size. Managers' transactions (Prosi)

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on NOK. Arete Research raised shares of Nokia from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays restated an "underweight" rating on shares of Nokia in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Nokia from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Santander upgraded shares of Nokia from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Nordea Equity Research upgraded shares of Nokia from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $9.71.

Nokia Stock Up 2.9%

The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm has a market cap of $76.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.77. The stock's 50 day moving average is $8.94 and its 200 day moving average is $7.36.

Nokia (NYSE:NOK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 31st. The technology company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter. Nokia had a net margin of 4.02% and a return on equity of 9.22%. The business had revenue of $5.21 billion for the quarter. Analysts forecast that Nokia Corporation will post 0.39 EPS for the current year.

Nokia Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.0468 per share. This is a boost from Nokia's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. This represents a $0.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 28th. Nokia's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 81.25%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NOK. Analog Century Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Nokia during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $104,244,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Nokia by 50.0% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 43,424,695 shares of the technology company's stock worth $208,873,000 after buying an additional 14,482,665 shares during the last quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP grew its position in Nokia by 166.4% in the first quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 20,388,202 shares of the technology company's stock worth $163,921,000 after buying an additional 12,734,021 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position 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 worth $60,871,000 after buying an additional 12,619,099 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its position 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 worth $386,387,000 after buying an additional 11,667,677 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 5.28% of the company's stock.

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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