EchoStar Corporation $SATS Stock Position Decreased by American Century Companies Inc.

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. reduced its stake in EchoStar Corporation by 6.1%, selling 182,157 shares in the first quarter and holding about 2.8 million shares worth approximately $71.9 million.
• Citi upgraded EchoStar's price target from $27.00 to $28.50, maintaining a "neutral" rating, while the stock has a consensus target price of $27.88.
• Despite a negative earnings report with an EPS of ($1.06), EchoStar's quarter revenue was $3.72 billion, slightly below analysts' expectations of $3.80 billion.

American Century Companies Inc. reduced its holdings in EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS - Free Report) by 6.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,809,903 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 182,157 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.98% of EchoStar worth $71,877,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SATS. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 44.5% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,841 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 567 shares during the last quarter. Gilder Gagnon Howe & Co. LLC increased its stake in EchoStar by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Gilder Gagnon Howe & Co. LLC now owns 47,604 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,090,000 after purchasing an additional 941 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in EchoStar by 8,125.0% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 987 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 975 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in EchoStar by 39.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,441 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $88,000 after buying an additional 976 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in EchoStar during the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. 33.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

EchoStar Stock Up 7.7%

EchoStar stock traded up $2.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $29.62. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,309,242 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,885,462. EchoStar Corporation has a 52-week low of $14.90 and a 52-week high of $34.20. The company has a market cap of $8.52 billion, a PE ratio of -28.21 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The firm's 50 day moving average is $28.08 and its 200 day moving average is $25.54.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.06) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.12) by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.80 billion. EchoStar had a negative return on equity of 1.58% and a negative net margin of 2.04%.The firm's quarterly revenue was down 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.76) EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that EchoStar Corporation will post -1.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of EchoStar from $27.00 to $28.50 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $27.88.

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.