Trivest Advisors Ltd Grows Position in EchoStar Corporation $SATS

Trivest Advisors Ltd grew its holdings in shares of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) by 277.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 241,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 177,200 shares during the quarter. EchoStar comprises 2.0% of Trivest Advisors Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Trivest Advisors Ltd’s holdings in EchoStar were worth $28,214,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Sachem Head Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of EchoStar in the fourth quarter worth approximately $568,218,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in EchoStar in the 4th quarter worth approximately $182,111,000. 140 Summer Partners LP purchased a new position in EchoStar in the 4th quarter worth approximately $99,678,000. Atreides Management LP bought a new position in shares of EchoStar in the 4th quarter worth $97,948,000. Finally, Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd increased its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 68.6% in the 4th quarter. Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd now owns 2,181,728 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $237,154,000 after buying an additional 887,611 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 33.62% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 52,586 shares of EchoStar stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.00, for a total value of $6,362,906.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 865,633 shares in the company, valued at $104,741,593. This trade represents a 5.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 55.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of EchoStar from $129.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Wall Street Zen raised EchoStar from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. New Street Research set a $165.00 price target on EchoStar in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Williams Trading set a $155.00 price target on EchoStar in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Four research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $137.71.

EchoStar Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ SATS opened at $103.80 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.08 billion, a P/E 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 firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $116.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $117.13. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, May 9th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.51) earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $3.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.71) earnings per share.

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.