Norges Bank Buys New Position in EchoStar Corporation $SATS

Norges Bank bought a new stake in EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 1,675,354 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $182,111,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SATS. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of EchoStar by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 26,805 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $672,000 after purchasing an additional 1,511 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in shares of EchoStar by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 72,482 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,854,000 after purchasing an additional 3,199 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in shares of EchoStar by 8.1% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 331,476 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $8,479,000 after purchasing an additional 24,749 shares during the period. Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of EchoStar in the 1st quarter valued at about $128,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in shares of EchoStar by 18.6% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 13,528 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $377,000 after purchasing an additional 2,119 shares during the period. 33.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SATS. Wall Street Zen raised EchoStar from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Williams Trading set a $155.00 price objective on EchoStar in a research note on Monday, May 18th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on EchoStar from $129.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. New Street Research initiated coverage on EchoStar in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $161.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, EchoStar currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $137.14.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 71,005 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.52, for a total transaction of $7,634,457.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 823,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $88,520,463.36. This represents a 7.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 55.90% of the company’s stock.

EchoStar Stock Down 2.1%

SATS opened at $120.92 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $125.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $112.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.17. The company has a market cap of $35.04 billion, a PE ratio of -2.41 and a beta of 0.94. EchoStar Corporation has a 52 week low of $14.90 and a 52 week high of $147.25.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last issued its 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). The business had revenue of $3.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.65 billion. EchoStar had a negative return on equity of 4.80% and a negative net margin of 97.56%.During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.71) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that EchoStar Corporation will post -3.79 EPS for the current year.

EchoStar 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.