GDS (NASDAQ:GDS) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Jefferies Financial Group

GDS (NASDAQ:GDS) was downgraded by Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $45.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $27.06. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 14.36% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on GDS. StockNews.com raised GDS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of GDS from $25.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. JMP Securities initiated coverage on GDS in a report on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $35.00 target price on the stock. Daiwa Capital Markets raised GDS from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised GDS to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, GDS currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.23.

GDS Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GDS opened at $39.35 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.50 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.90 and a beta of 0.12. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $26.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.03. GDS has a 52-week low of $5.85 and a 52-week high of $52.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.25.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On GDS

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in GDS by 26.8% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,177 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,000 after acquiring an additional 672 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in GDS by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 8,221 shares of the company’s stock worth $168,000 after buying an additional 1,215 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of GDS by 1,558.3% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 2,353 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of GDS by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 182,388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,721,000 after acquiring an additional 2,543 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in shares of GDS in the third quarter worth $64,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.71% of the company’s stock.

About GDS

GDS Holdings Limited, together with its subsidiaries, develops and operates data centers in the People's Republic of China. The company provides colocation services comprising critical facilities space, customer-available power, racks, and cooling; managed hosting services, including business continuity and disaster recovery, network management, data storage, system security, operating system, database, and server middleware services; managed cloud services; and consulting services.