HighTower Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Position in Ericsson $ERIC

HighTower Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) by 4.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 111,042 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 4,686 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ericsson were worth $862,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ERIC. Federated Hermes Inc. acquired a new position in Ericsson in the first quarter valued at $27,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. acquired a new position in Ericsson in the first quarter valued at $31,000. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ericsson in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Wallace Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Ericsson in the first quarter valued at $90,000. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Ericsson in the fourth quarter valued at $105,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 7.99% of the company’s stock.

Ericsson Price Performance

ERIC stock opened at $7.91 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $7.82 and a 200-day moving average of $8.03. Ericsson has a 12-month low of $6.64 and a 12-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 cap of $26.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.82, a PEG ratio of 12.63 and a beta of 0.85.

Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.02. Ericsson had a net margin of 7.06% and a return on equity of 21.17%. The company had revenue of $5.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.54 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($3.34) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ericsson will post 0.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ericsson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $9.80.

Ericsson 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.