Ericsson Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:ERIC)

Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors bought 5,236 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 117% compared to the average daily volume of 2,412 put options.

Institutional Trading of Ericsson

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ERIC. ABC Arbitrage SA boosted its stake in Ericsson by 36.7% in the fourth quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA now owns 4,389,009 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $42,354,000 after buying an additional 1,179,194 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Ericsson during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $429,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of Ericsson by 60.5% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,645,672 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $15,881,000 after acquiring an additional 620,144 shares in the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC raised its stake in shares of Ericsson by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 42,902 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $414,000 after acquiring an additional 2,869 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its holdings in shares of Ericsson by 302.7% in the 3rd quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 46,112 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $381,000 after acquiring an additional 34,660 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 7.99% of the company’s stock.

Ericsson Price Performance

ERIC traded down $1.56 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $10.15. The stock had a trading volume of 19,955,207 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,417,876. The stock has a market cap of $34.23 billion, a PE ratio of 12.88, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.12. Ericsson has a one year low of $7.16 and a one year high of $13.77. The business has a 50-day moving average of $12.09 and a 200-day moving average of $11.33.

Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 14th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13. Ericsson had a return on equity of 22.17% and a net margin of 10.80%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ericsson will post 0.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ERIC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ericsson from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 25th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Ericsson in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ericsson in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $11.00.

Key Headlines Impacting Ericsson

Here are the key news stories impacting Ericsson this week:

• Neutral Sentiment: Ericsson reported Q2 adjusted earnings of $0.13 per share, matching Wall Street expectations, which suggests core profitability held up better than feared. Ericsson earnings report and conference call
• Positive Sentiment: Margins in key businesses showed resilience, and the company’s return on equity remained strong, which may help limit downside if investors focus on operational efficiency. Zacks article on margin resilience
• Neutral Sentiment: Ericsson also continued its share repurchase program, buying back 2.5 million shares in July, which signals management confidence but is unlikely to offset the earnings reaction on its own. Share buyback announcement
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue came in below expectations as lower IPR licensing sales and weak Networks/Enterprise performance weighed on results, raising concerns about demand trends. MarketWatch article on margin pressure
• Negative Sentiment: Management warned that Q3 Networks gross margin could face additional pressure from higher rollout volumes and rising component costs, including memory-chip inflation, which is driving the stock lower. RTT News article on weak Q2 and cautious Q3 view

Ericsson Company Profile

Ericsson AB is a Swedish multinational telecommunications equipment and services company headquartered in Stockholm. Founded in 1876 by Lars Magnus Ericsson, the company designs, develops and sells infrastructure, software and services that enable mobile and fixed-line networks worldwide. Ericsson serves a global customer base that includes mobile network operators, enterprise customers and public-sector organizations across Europe, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa.

The company’s core activities center on building and modernizing network infrastructure, with a particular focus on radio access networks (RAN), core network software, cloud-native solutions and network management systems.