Morgan Stanley Initiates Coverage on Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC)

Stock analysts at Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) in a note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm set an “equal weight” rating and a $11.00 price target on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective points to a potential downside of 2.01% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on ERIC. Danske downgraded Ericsson to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Cfra Research raised Ericsson to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Ericsson in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ericsson to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Ericsson in a research note on Friday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $10.40.

Ericsson Stock Down 0.7%

ERIC stock opened at $11.23 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.84 billion, a PE ratio of 12.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a fifty day moving average of $9.93 and a 200-day moving average of $9.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.29. Ericsson has a one year low of $6.64 and a one year high of $11.38.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ericsson

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in Ericsson by 60.5% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,645,672 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $15,881,000 after acquiring an additional 620,144 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ericsson by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 257,021 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,480,000 after purchasing an additional 6,667 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its position in shares of Ericsson by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 39,200 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $378,000 after purchasing an additional 4,900 shares during the last quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA increased its stake in shares of Ericsson by 36.7% during the 4th quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA now owns 4,389,009 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $42,354,000 after purchasing an additional 1,179,194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RNC Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ericsson by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC now owns 64,667 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $624,000 after purchasing an additional 1,576 shares during the last quarter. 7.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Ericsson

Ericsson AB is a Swedish multinational telecommunications equipment and services company headquartered in Stockholm. Founded in 1876 by Lars Magnus Ericsson, the company designs, develops and sells infrastructure, software and services that enable mobile and fixed-line networks worldwide. Ericsson serves a global customer base that includes mobile network operators, enterprise customers and public-sector organizations across Europe, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa.

The company’s core activities center on building and modernizing network infrastructure, with a particular focus on radio access networks (RAN), core network software, cloud-native solutions and network management systems.