Gabelli Funds LLC Boosts Stock Position in EchoStar Corporation $SATS

Gabelli Funds LLC grew its holdings in EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) by 6.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 304,205 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 17,100 shares during the quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC’s holdings in EchoStar were worth $33,067,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on SATS. Citigroup boosted their price target on EchoStar from $111.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Zacks Research cut EchoStar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. UBS Group boosted their price target on EchoStar from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded EchoStar from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, EchoStar has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $138.00.

EchoStar Stock Performance

NASDAQ SATS opened at $137.23 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $120.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $107.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.64 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.74 and a beta of 0.95. 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 $139.54.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 11th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.51) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.48) by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $3.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 firm posted ($0.71) EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that EchoStar Corporation will post -2.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other EchoStar news, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 71,005 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO John Swieringa sold 50,088 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 253,535 shares in the company, valued at $28,796,505.30. This trade represents a 16.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 55.70% of the company’s stock.

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.