Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Purchases 67,623 Shares of EchoStar Corporation $SATS

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its position in EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) by 83.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 148,698 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 67,623 shares during the quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL’s holdings in EchoStar were worth $16,163,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SATS. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators bought a new stake in shares of EchoStar in the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of EchoStar in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton bought a new stake in shares of EchoStar in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in shares of EchoStar in the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. Finally, BOKF NA grew its stake in shares of EchoStar by 300.0% in the 4th quarter. BOKF NA now owns 400 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 33.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on SATS shares. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of EchoStar from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of EchoStar from $129.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. 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 initiated coverage on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $161.00 price target for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Monday, April 20th. 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, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $137.14.

EchoStar Price Performance

SATS opened at $136.45 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $39.42 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.72 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $121.16 and a 200 day moving average of $107.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.17, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.30. EchoStar Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $14.90 and a fifty-two week high of $147.25.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 11th. 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 company posted ($0.71) EPS. On average, research analysts expect that EchoStar Corporation will post -2.51 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at EchoStar

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