EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) CEO Hamid Akhavan Sells 52,586 Shares

EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 52,586 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 865,633 shares in the company, valued at $104,741,593. The trade was a 5.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

EchoStar Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ:SATS opened at $116.77 on Wednesday. EchoStar Corporation has a 1-year low of $15.86 and a 1-year high of $147.25. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $125.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $113.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.33 and a beta of 0.94.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last released its earnings results on Saturday, May 9th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.51) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.48) by ($0.03). EchoStar had a negative net margin of 97.56% and a negative return on equity of 4.80%. The company had revenue of $3.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.71) EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that EchoStar Corporation will post -3.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on SATS. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research note on Monday, April 20th. UBS Group raised 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. Wall Street Zen raised EchoStar from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. New Street Research assumed coverage on EchoStar in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $161.00 price target on the stock. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on EchoStar from $129.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $137.14.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On EchoStar

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SATS. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 4.1% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,089 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $245,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co grew its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 0.4% during the first quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 22,845 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,674,000 after buying an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,933 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $536,000 after buying an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio grew its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 0.5% during the first quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 19,100 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,236,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 5,618 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $611,000 after buying an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.62% of the company’s stock.

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.