KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Takes Position in EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 26,906 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $616,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SATS. State Street Corp increased its position in EchoStar by 1.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,776,238 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $118,546,000 after acquiring an additional 62,674 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,992,060 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $68,518,000 after purchasing an additional 28,779 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of EchoStar by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,019,809 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $23,354,000 after buying an additional 133,819 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of EchoStar by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 585,990 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $13,419,000 after buying an additional 16,999 shares during the period. Finally, Stonehill Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in EchoStar during the third quarter worth approximately $9,235,000. 33.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group raised their price target on EchoStar from $15.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Monday, December 16th. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $25.00 target price for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $23.75.

EchoStar Price Performance

NASDAQ:SATS traded down $0.32 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $21.21. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,698,881 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,700,210. 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 company has a market capitalization of $6.08 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.32 and a beta of 0.72. EchoStar Co. has a twelve month low of $13.00 and a twelve month high of $32.48. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.58.

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

EchoStar Company Profile

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.