Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) Hits New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $12.02 and last traded at $12.0350, with a volume of 10058004 shares. The stock had previously closed at $11.44.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Ericsson Trading Down 3.7%

The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $10.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.67 billion, a PE ratio of 13.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.93.

Ericsson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd were issued a $0.1663 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 2nd. Ericsson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.73%.

Institutional Trading of Ericsson

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in Ericsson during the second quarter worth about $17,461,000. Defiance ETFs LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ericsson during the 4th quarter worth approximately $13,766,000. ABC Arbitrage SA grew its holdings in shares of Ericsson by 36.7% in the 4th quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA now owns 4,389,009 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $42,354,000 after acquiring an additional 1,179,194 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Ericsson by 42.9% in the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 3,350,029 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,408,000 after purchasing an additional 1,005,398 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Ericsson by 229.3% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,252,437 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $12,086,000 after purchasing an additional 872,065 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 7.99% of the company’s stock.

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.