Natixis Advisors LLC Purchases 104,460 Shares of Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC)

Key Points

• Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in Ericsson by 14.1% during the first quarter, bringing its total holdings to approximately $6.58 million after purchasing 104,460 shares.
• JPMorgan Chase & Co. significantly raised its investment in Ericsson by 55.1% in the fourth quarter, now owning nearly $14.5 million in shares after acquiring over 638,000 shares.
• Ericsson reported earnings of $0.14 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding analyst expectations, but experienced a 6.2% decline in revenue compared to the previous year.

Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC - Free Report) by 14.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 847,463 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 104,460 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC's holdings in Ericsson were worth $6,576,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of ERIC. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted 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 valued at $109,673,000 after purchasing an additional 10,891,451 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ericsson by 234.6% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 6,744,940 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $54,364,000 after purchasing an additional 4,729,207 shares in the last quarter. DigitalBridge Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ericsson by 28.8% in the fourth quarter. DigitalBridge Group Inc. now owns 6,382,140 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $51,440,000 after acquiring an additional 1,427,386 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted 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 acquiring an additional 431,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boothbay Fund Management LLC lifted its stake in Ericsson by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC now owns 2,257,459 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $18,195,000 after acquiring an additional 383,463 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 7.99% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ericsson from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Kepler Capital Markets upgraded shares of Ericsson from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Ericsson from $8.90 to $9.80 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th.

Ericsson Stock Performance

Shares of ERIC stock traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $7.55. 4,223,077 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,725,910. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.09, a P/E/G ratio of 11.83 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Ericsson has a fifty-two week low of $6.64 and a fifty-two week high of $8.99. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $8.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $8.05.

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