Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) Trading Down 3.8% - Should You Sell?

Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC - Get Free Report)'s stock price fell 3.8% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $8.23 and last traded at $8.22. 5,827,137 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 70% from the average session volume of 19,640,391 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.54.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ERIC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Ericsson from $8.90 to $9.80 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Wall Street Zen raised Ericsson from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Kepler Capital Markets raised Ericsson from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th.

Ericsson Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $8.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $8.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 160.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.68 and a beta of 0.93.

Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.03. Ericsson had a return on equity of 16.45% and a net margin of 0.67%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.83 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ericsson will post 0.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ericsson

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ERIC. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Ericsson by 401.1% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 13,607,012 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $109,673,000 after buying an additional 10,891,451 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in Ericsson by 234.6% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 6,744,940 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $54,364,000 after buying an additional 4,729,207 shares in the last quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA bought a new position in Ericsson in the 1st quarter valued at $24,146,000. National Bank of Canada FI bought a new position in Ericsson in the 4th quarter valued at $23,440,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 1,888,375 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 7.99% of the company's stock.

Ericsson Company Profile

Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ), together with its subsidiaries, provides mobile connectivity solutions for telcom operators and enterprise customers in various sectors in North America, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, North East Asia, South East Asia, Oceania, and India. It operates in four segments: Networks; Cloud Software and Services; Enterprise; and Other.