Short Interest in VNET Group, Inc. - Unsponsored ADR (NASDAQ:VNET) Increases By 411.3%

Key Points

• VNET Group, Inc. experienced a dramatic increase in short interest, rising by 411.3% to 23,980,000 shares as of July 15th.
• Significant institutional activity was noted, with 72.83% of VNET's stock owned by institutional investors, including an increase in holdings by the Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio and Bingham Private Wealth LLC.
• Wall Street analysts have moved VNET Group's rating from "sell" to "hold", with an average price target of $9.30 and mixed ratings from various analysts.

VNET Group, Inc. - Unsponsored ADR (NASDAQ:VNET - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totaling 23,980,000 shares, anincreaseof411.3% from the June 30th total of 4,690,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 6,410,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.7 days. Based on an average daily volume of 6,410,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.7 days.

VNET Group Stock Performance

VNET Group stock traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $7.90. 1,465,555 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,073,897. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $6.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $7.74. The firm has a market cap of $2.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -789.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.34, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.10. VNET Group has a 52 week low of $1.72 and a 52 week high of $16.13.

VNET Group (NASDAQ:VNET - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The information technology services provider reported ($0.12) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $309.52 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.22 billion. VNET Group had a return on equity of 2.11% and a net margin of 1.66%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.28) earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that VNET Group will post -0.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

VNET Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Friday, June 27th that allows the company to buyback $0.00 in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Wall Street Zen upgraded VNET Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, July 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $9.30.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On VNET Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in VNET Group by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 474,929 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,251,000 after buying an additional 80,516 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of VNET Group by 622.8% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 989,402 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,690,000 after acquiring an additional 852,519 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in VNET Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,708,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new position in VNET Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,811,000. Finally, HCEP Management Ltd acquired a new position in VNET Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,491,000. 72.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About VNET Group

VNET Group, Inc, an investment holding company, provides hosting and related services in China. It offers managed hosting services consisting of managed retail services, such as colocation services that dedicate data center space to house customers' servers and networking equipment, as well as allow customers to lease partial or entire cabinets for their servers; interconnectivity services that allow customers to connect their servers; value-added services, including hybrid IT, bare metal, firewall, server load balancing, data backup and recovery, data center management, server management, and backup server services; cloud services that allow customers to run applications over the internet using IT infrastructure; and VPN Services that extend customers' private networks by setting up connections through the public internet.