KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Has $2.57 Million Stock Position in EchoStar Corporation $SATS

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS grew its holdings in EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) by 14.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 33,706 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,300 shares during the quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS’s holdings in EchoStar were worth $2,574,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SATS. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in EchoStar by 593.2% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 922 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 789 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of EchoStar during the second quarter worth approximately $73,000. Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of EchoStar in the first quarter valued at approximately $128,000. AlphaQuest LLC bought a new stake in shares of EchoStar in the second quarter valued at approximately $130,000. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in EchoStar by 16.6% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,235 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $145,000 after buying an additional 746 shares in the last quarter. 33.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

EchoStar Stock Performance

EchoStar stock opened at $120.00 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $34.55 billion, a PE ratio of -2.67 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11. EchoStar Corporation has a 12-month low of $14.90 and a 12-month high of $120.53. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $89.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $64.91.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($44.37) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.23) by ($43.14). The company had revenue of $3.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.75 billion. EchoStar had a negative net margin of 85.36% and a positive return on equity of 0.39%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.52) earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that EchoStar Corporation will post -1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO John Swieringa sold 22,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.34, for a total transaction of $1,481,480.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 283,509 shares in the company, valued at $19,091,496.06. The trade was a 7.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 285,832 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.33, for a total value of $30,106,684.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 376,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,688,870.65. The trade was a 43.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 55.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SATS. UBS Group upped their target price on EchoStar from $28.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of EchoStar from $87.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Zacks Research downgraded shares of EchoStar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Williams Trading set a $158.00 target price on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of EchoStar from $97.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.17.

About EchoStar

EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS) is a global provider of satellite communication solutions, offering a suite of broadband and video delivery services to consumer, enterprise and government customers. The company operates two principal business segments: Broadband and Video. Through its Broadband segment, EchoStar delivers high-speed satellite internet access, managed network services and ground infrastructure for residential, commercial and rural markets. Its Video segment provides satellite fleet operations, teleport facilities and capacity-leasing services to video distributors and content providers.

In the Broadband segment, EchoStar’s Hughes Network Systems division designs and manufactures satellite broadband equipment, including user terminals and gateways, and develops advanced network management technologies.