VNET Group (NASDAQ:VNET) Shares Gap Up - Here's Why

Shares of VNET Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:VNET - Get Free Report) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $3.72, but opened at $4.02. VNET Group shares last traded at $4.20, with a volume of 1,607,830 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on VNET shares. Hsbc Global Res raised VNET Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of VNET Group in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $4.00 target price on the stock. HSBC raised shares of VNET Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $5.20 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of VNET Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $3.10 to $5.00 in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of VNET Group from $6.40 to $7.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, VNET Group has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $4.78.

VNET Group Stock Performance

The company's 50-day moving average price is $3.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $2.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.06 billion, a PE ratio of -1.86 and a beta of -0.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.83.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On VNET Group

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of VNET Group by 89.1% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,973,358 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $6,229,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400,683 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC bought a new position in VNET Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,092,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in VNET Group by 237.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 298,539 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,218,000 after purchasing an additional 210,124 shares during the last quarter. Anson Funds Management LP boosted its stake in shares of VNET Group by 84.9% in the 3rd quarter. Anson Funds Management LP now owns 450,000 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,836,000 after buying an additional 206,580 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in VNET Group by 136,783.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 136,883 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $558,000 after purchasing an additional 136,783 shares during the last quarter. 72.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

VNET Group Company Profile

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.