Geode Capital Management LLC Trims Stake in EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS)

Geode Capital Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS - Free Report) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,902,971 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 11,705 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned 1.07% of EchoStar worth $66,492,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Xponance Inc. increased its position in shares of EchoStar by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 8,773 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $201,000 after purchasing an additional 701 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in EchoStar by 251.3% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of EchoStar by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 17,599 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $403,000 after acquiring an additional 1,198 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 248,425 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $5,689,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of EchoStar by 65.1% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. 33.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

EchoStar Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of EchoStar stock traded down $0.35 during trading on Friday, reaching $21.75. 1,234,897 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,735,723. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market cap of $6.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.37 and a beta of 0.72. EchoStar Co. has a 1 year low of $13.52 and a 1 year high of $32.48. The stock's fifty day moving average is $26.42 and its 200 day moving average is $25.33.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.63) by $1.87. EchoStar had a negative return on equity of 0.64% and a negative net margin of 15.51%. The business had revenue of $3.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.93 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that EchoStar Co. will post -1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of EchoStar from $15.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $23.75.

EchoStar 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.