Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. Buys 8,941 Shares of EchoStar Corporation $SATS

Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) by 247.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,552 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,941 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in EchoStar were worth $1,364,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SATS. DLD Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in EchoStar during the third quarter worth about $2,481,700,000. Sachem Head Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of EchoStar in the 4th quarter worth approximately $568,218,000. Icahn Carl C acquired a new stake in shares of EchoStar during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $332,513,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,524,576 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $382,595,000 after purchasing an additional 48,671 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd increased its position in shares of EchoStar by 68.6% during the fourth quarter. Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd now owns 2,181,728 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $237,154,000 after purchasing an additional 887,611 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 33.62% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on SATS. Williams Trading set a $155.00 price objective on shares of EchoStar in a report on Monday, May 18th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Zacks Research lowered shares of EchoStar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. New Street Research set a $165.00 price target on shares of EchoStar in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised EchoStar from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $137.71.

EchoStar Stock Down 0.1%

NASDAQ SATS opened at $103.80 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $30.08 billion, a PE ratio of -2.07 and a beta of 0.94. EchoStar Corporation has a one year low of $24.15 and a one year high of $147.25. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $120.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $117.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.17, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.27.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 52,586 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.00, for a total transaction of $6,362,906.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 865,633 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $104,741,593. This represents a 5.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 55.90% of the company’s stock.

EchoStar Company Profile

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.