Acadian Asset Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings 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 position in Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC - Free Report) by 0.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 87,313,506 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 482,691 shares during the quarter. Ericsson makes up approximately 1.9% of Acadian Asset Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Acadian Asset Management LLC owned approximately 2.62% of Ericsson worth $677,498,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ERIC. Jane Street Group LLC raised its stake in Ericsson by 113.0% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 2,387,985 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $18,531,000 after purchasing an additional 1,266,788 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC acquired a new stake in Ericsson during the 1st quarter worth about $138,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Ericsson in the 1st quarter valued at about $126,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Ericsson by 7.5% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 134,891 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $1,049,000 after purchasing an additional 9,362 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its stake in Ericsson by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 498,887 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $3,732,000 after buying an additional 48,692 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 7.99% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on ERIC shares. Wall Street Zen raised Ericsson from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. BNP Paribas reissued an "underperform" rating on shares of Ericsson in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $9.80.

Ericsson Stock Performance

ERIC stock traded up $0.01 during trading on Monday, reaching $7.93. 5,089,249 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,872,928. Ericsson has a twelve month low of $6.64 and a twelve month high of $8.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company has a market capitalization of $26.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.68 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $7.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $8.03.

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

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.