BNP Paribas Financial Markets Purchases 620,144 Shares of Ericsson $ERIC

BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) by 60.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,645,672 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 620,144 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets’ holdings in Ericsson were worth $15,881,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ERIC. ABC Arbitrage SA increased its position 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 valued at $42,354,000 after purchasing an additional 1,179,194 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ericsson by 197.2% during the 2nd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,242,381 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,534,000 after purchasing an additional 824,287 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in shares of Ericsson by 234.2% during the 3rd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,078,145 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $8,916,000 after purchasing an additional 755,587 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Ericsson by 434.3% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 380,372 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,146,000 after purchasing an additional 309,183 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ericsson by 2.7% during the 4th 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. Institutional investors own 7.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ERIC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Ericsson in a research report on Monday, February 9th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $11.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Ericsson in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen cut Ericsson from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ericsson in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $11.00.

Ericsson Trading Down 5.9%

Shares of NASDAQ ERIC opened at $12.56 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $42.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.90. Ericsson has a 1-year low of $7.16 and a 1-year high of $13.77. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $12.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.98.

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.