EchoStar Corporation $SATS Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) by 47.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 152,128 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 139,511 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.05% of EchoStar worth $17,810,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new stake in EchoStar in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of EchoStar in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in shares of EchoStar in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Tucker Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of EchoStar in the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, BOKF NA lifted its stake in EchoStar by 300.0% during the fourth quarter. BOKF NA now owns 400 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 33.62% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SATS has been the subject of several research reports. New Street Research set a $165.00 price objective on EchoStar in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Williams Trading set a $155.00 target price on EchoStar in a report on Monday, May 18th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Monday, April 20th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on EchoStar from $129.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded EchoStar from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $137.71.

EchoStar Stock Down 0.1%

NASDAQ:SATS opened at $103.80 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $114.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $117.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.07 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.17. EchoStar Corporation has a 1-year low of $24.15 and a 1-year high of $147.25.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, May 9th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.51) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.48) by ($0.03). EchoStar had a negative return on equity of 4.80% and a negative net margin of 97.56%.The company had revenue of $3.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.65 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.71) earnings per share.

Insider Activity at EchoStar

In other news, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 52,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.00, for a total value of $6,362,906.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 865,633 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $104,741,593. This represents a 5.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 55.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.