Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) Shares Cross Above 200-Day Moving Average – Here’s What Happened

Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC)’s stock price crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $9.81 and traded as high as $11.47. Ericsson shares last traded at $11.32, with a volume of 9,311,040 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Argus upgraded Ericsson to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ericsson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Ericsson in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Ericsson in a research note on Monday, February 9th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $11.00 target price for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Ericsson in a research note on Monday, December 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ericsson has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $10.40.

Ericsson Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $38.16 billion, a PE ratio of 12.86, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $10.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Ericsson Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.1663 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 2nd. Ericsson’s payout ratio is 22.73%.

Institutional Trading of Ericsson

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ERIC. Defiance ETFs LLC acquired a new stake in Ericsson during the fourth quarter valued at $13,766,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of Ericsson by 19.1% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,903,298 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $18,603,000 after acquiring an additional 304,974 shares during the period. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ericsson in the fourth quarter worth about $429,000. Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ericsson by 33.9% during the 4th quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 43,232 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $417,000 after acquiring an additional 10,955 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Ericsson by 229.3% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,252,437 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $12,086,000 after acquiring an additional 872,065 shares in the last quarter. 7.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.