GDS (NASDAQ:GDS) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

GDS Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:GDS) shares gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $36.41, but opened at $38.19. GDS shares last traded at $36.90, with a volume of 328,962 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on GDS shares. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of GDS from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $27.06 to $45.00 in a research report on Monday, February 24th. JMP Securities initiated coverage on GDS in a report on Monday, January 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $35.00 price target on the stock. Citizens Jmp upgraded GDS to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded GDS from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of GDS from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.23.

GDS Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.25. The business has a 50-day moving average of $30.48 and a 200 day moving average of $23.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.76 billion, a PE ratio of -11.63 and a beta of 0.07.

Institutional Trading of GDS

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in GDS in the 3rd quarter worth about $64,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of GDS by 26.8% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,177 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,000 after buying an additional 672 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its stake in shares of GDS by 1,904.2% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,000 after buying an additional 3,599 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of GDS by 121.9% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,000 after acquiring an additional 3,053 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brookfield Corp ON purchased a new stake in shares of GDS during the third quarter valued at approximately $171,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.