57,696 Shares in EchoStar Corporation $SATS Acquired by Spear Advisors LLC

Spear Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 57,696 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,272,000. EchoStar comprises about 4.4% of Spear Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Hollencrest Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of EchoStar in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators purchased a new position in shares of EchoStar in the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of EchoStar in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton purchased a new position in shares of EchoStar in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in shares of EchoStar in the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. 33.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SATS has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of EchoStar from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Monday, April 20th. New Street Research initiated coverage on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Wednesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $161.00 price target for the company. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of EchoStar from $111.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of EchoStar from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $138.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 71,005 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.52, for a total value of $7,634,457.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 823,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $88,520,463.36. The trade was a 7.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO John Swieringa sold 50,088 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.58, for a total value of $5,688,995.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 253,535 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,796,505.30. This represents a 16.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 55.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

EchoStar Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of SATS stock opened at $137.23 on Friday. EchoStar Corporation has a 52-week low of $14.90 and a 52-week high of $139.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.17, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.64 billion, a PE ratio of -2.74 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $120.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $107.02.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 11th. 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 business had revenue of $3.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.71) EPS. On average, analysts predict that EchoStar Corporation will post -2.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.