Acadian Asset Management LLC Has $677.50 Million Position in Ericsson $ERIC

Key Points

• Acadian Asset Management LLC has increased its holdings in Ericsson by 0.6%, owning 87,313,506 shares with a value of approximately $677 million.
• Several other institutional investors, including Millennium Management LLC and Northern Trust Corp, significantly boosted their positions in Ericsson during the first quarter.
• Research firms have mixed ratings on Ericsson, with Wall Street Zen upgrading it to a "strong-buy," while BNP Paribas maintains an "underperform" rating, indicating a divided outlook among analysts.

Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC - Free Report) by 0.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 87,313,506 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 482,691 shares during the quarter. Ericsson comprises about 1.9% of Acadian Asset Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Acadian Asset Management LLC owned 2.62% of Ericsson worth $677,498,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Ericsson by 234.6% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 6,744,940 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $54,364,000 after purchasing an additional 4,729,207 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Ericsson by 106.6% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,659,696 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $28,399,000 after purchasing an additional 1,888,375 shares in the last quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA acquired a new position in Ericsson in the first quarter worth $24,146,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its stake in Ericsson by 21.2% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,463,200 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $19,853,000 after purchasing an additional 431,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC boosted its stake in Ericsson by 113.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 7.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Ericsson from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. BNP Paribas restated an "underperform" rating on shares of Ericsson in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $9.80.

Ericsson Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of ERIC stock traded down $0.13 on Friday, reaching $7.92. 11,747,386 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,712,719. The stock has a market cap of $26.52 billion, a PE ratio of 15.84, a P/E/G ratio of 12.88 and a beta of 0.87. Ericsson has a one year low of $6.64 and a one year high of $8.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $7.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.03.

Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 15th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $5.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.54 billion. Ericsson had a return on equity of 21.17% and a net margin of 7.06%.The firm's revenue was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($3.34) earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Ericsson will post 0.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Ericsson

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.