Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) Given Average Rating of “Reduce” by Brokerages

Shares of Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) have received an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the nine research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $11.00.

ERIC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ericsson from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 25th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Ericsson in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Ericsson in a report on Monday, February 9th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $11.00 target price for the company.

Institutional Trading of Ericsson

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. ABC Arbitrage SA grew its holdings 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 during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of Ericsson by 42.9% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 3,350,029 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,408,000 after purchasing an additional 1,005,398 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Ericsson by 19.1% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,903,298 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $18,603,000 after purchasing an additional 304,974 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its holdings in shares of Ericsson by 26.3% during the 1st quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 1,418,076 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $15,982,000 after purchasing an additional 295,185 shares during the period. Finally, Defiance ETFs LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ericsson during the 4th quarter worth about $13,766,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 7.99% of the company’s stock.

Ericsson Trading Down 5.0%

Shares of ERIC stock opened at $13.04 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $43.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.51, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.88. Ericsson has a 1-year low of $7.16 and a 1-year high of $13.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $11.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.83.

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.