EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS) Shares Sold by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its holdings in EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 93,390 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,383 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in EchoStar were worth $2,139,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of EchoStar by 251.3% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,609 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 1,151 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its position in EchoStar by 65.1% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,684 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $153,000 after purchasing an additional 2,635 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in EchoStar during the third quarter worth $272,000. Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new position in shares of EchoStar during the fourth quarter worth $261,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of EchoStar in the fourth quarter valued at $328,000. 33.62% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on SATS. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on EchoStar in a report on Monday, December 16th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $25.00 target price for the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of EchoStar from $15.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, EchoStar presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.75.

EchoStar Price Performance

SATS stock opened at $24.99 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $28.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.73 and a beta of 0.65. EchoStar Co. has a 1 year low of $12.66 and a 1 year high of $32.48.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.63) by $1.87. EchoStar had a negative net margin of 15.51% and a negative return on equity of 0.64%. The firm had revenue of $3.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.93 billion. Analysts anticipate that EchoStar Co. will post -1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About EchoStar

EchoStar Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides networking technologies and services worldwide. The company operates in four segments: Pay-TV, Retail Wireless, 5G Network Deployment, Broadband and Satellite Services. The Pay-TV segment offers a direct broadcast and fixed satellite services; designs, develops, and distributes receiver system; and provides digital broadcast operations, including satellite uplinking/downlinking, transmission and, other services to third-party pay-TV providers; and multichannel, live-linear and on-demand streaming over-the-top internet-based domestic, international, Latino, and Freestream video programming services under the DISH and SLING brand names.