Teacher Retirement System of Texas Lowers Holdings in EchoStar Corporation $SATS

Teacher Retirement System of Texas reduced its stake in shares of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,789 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 4,853 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in EchoStar were worth $1,817,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Darsana Capital Partners LP increased its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 15.5% during the 2nd quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 8,960,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $248,192,000 after purchasing an additional 1,201,672 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in EchoStar by 11.5% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,449,193 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $95,553,000 after buying an additional 355,009 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of EchoStar by 32.8% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,268,572 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $35,139,000 after acquiring an additional 313,314 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of EchoStar by 30.1% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 913,292 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $25,298,000 after acquiring an additional 211,421 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of EchoStar during the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,464,000. 33.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other EchoStar news, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 285,832 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.33, for a total value of $30,106,684.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 376,805 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,688,870.65. This represents a 43.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO John Swieringa sold 22,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.34, for a total value of $1,481,480.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 283,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,091,496.06. This represents a 7.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 55.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

EchoStar Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of SATS stock opened at $113.22 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $105.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $74.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.59 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.52 and a beta of 1.02. EchoStar Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $14.90 and a fifty-two week high of $132.25.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($44.37) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.23) by ($43.14). The business had revenue of $3.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.75 billion. EchoStar had a positive return on equity of 0.39% and a negative net margin of 85.36%.EchoStar’s quarterly revenue was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.52) EPS. Research analysts expect that EchoStar Corporation will post -1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of EchoStar in a report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on EchoStar from $97.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 19th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of EchoStar from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $82.00 to $110.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.17.

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.