Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 21,261 Shares of EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans reduced its position in shares of EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS) by 18.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 94,773 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 21,261 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in EchoStar were worth $2,352,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Darsana Capital Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of EchoStar in the second quarter worth $36,908,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D bought a new stake in EchoStar in the second quarter worth $1,830,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in EchoStar by 238.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,707,909 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $195,338,000 after purchasing an additional 9,661,167 shares during the last quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc bought a new stake in EchoStar in the second quarter worth $833,000. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC bought a new stake in EchoStar in the first quarter worth $511,000. 33.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Charles W. Ergen bought 1,551,355 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $28.04 per share, with a total value of $43,499,994.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,551,355 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,499,994.20. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 55.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

EchoStar Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SATS opened at $25.03 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $6.80 billion, a PE ratio of -2.73 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $24.86 and a 200 day moving average of $21.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.67. EchoStar Co. has a one year low of $10.18 and a one year high of $30.08.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SATS shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of EchoStar from $14.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $12.00 price target on shares of EchoStar in a research note on Monday, August 12th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of EchoStar from $37.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of EchoStar from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of EchoStar to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, EchoStar has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.25.

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.