Brokerages Set Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) Price Target at $9.80

Shares of Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) have been given an average rating of “Reduce” by the nine research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $9.80.

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating on shares of Ericsson in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Ericsson in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Ericsson in a research report on Monday. BNP Paribas reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Ericsson in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Cfra Research upgraded shares of Ericsson to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th.

Ericsson Stock Performance

NASDAQ ERIC opened at $9.65 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The company has a market cap of $32.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $9.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $8.63. Ericsson has a 1-year low of $6.64 and a 1-year high of $10.35.

Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 14th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.03. Ericsson had a net margin of 10.44% and a return on equity of 21.50%. The business had revenue of $5.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $57.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ericsson will post 0.48 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ericsson

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ericsson by 0.6% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 87,313,506 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $677,498,000 after purchasing an additional 482,691 shares in the last quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA boosted its position in shares of Ericsson by 64.6% during the 2nd quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA now owns 5,121,349 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $43,429,000 after acquiring an additional 2,009,723 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Ericsson by 106.6% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,659,696 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,399,000 after acquiring an additional 1,888,375 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,005,398 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC lifted its stake in Ericsson by 113.0% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 2,387,985 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $18,531,000 after purchasing an additional 1,266,788 shares during the last quarter. 7.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ericsson Company Profile

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.