Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Reduce" from Analysts

Key Points

• Consensus "Reduce": Eleven analysts covering Ericsson give a consensus recommendation of Reduce (2 sell, 8 hold, 1 buy) with an average 1-year price target of $10.40.
• Market snapshot: shares opened at $11.44, market cap ~$38.56 billion, P/E 13.00, and a 52-week range of $6.64 to $12.00 (50-day MA $10.68, 200-day MA $9.63).
• Dividend and institutional activity: Ericsson paid a $0.1663 per share dividend (payout ratio 22.73%), while several institutional investors including VanECK, ABC Arbitrage and BNP Paribas materially increased their stakes.

Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC - Get Free Report) has received a consensus recommendation of "Reduce" from the eleven research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have assigned a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $10.40.

ERIC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Ericsson in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Ericsson in a report on Monday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley assumed 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. Argus raised Ericsson to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Ericsson from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th.

Ericsson Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ERIC opened at $11.44 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $10.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.63. Ericsson has a 1-year low of $6.64 and a 1-year high of $12.00. The company has a market cap of $38.56 billion, a PE ratio of 13.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.93.

Ericsson Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Investors 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 currently 22.73%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ERIC. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ericsson during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $17,461,000. Defiance ETFs LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ericsson in 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 raised its holdings 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 during 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.