BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S Reduces Holdings in EchoStar Corporation $SATS

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lowered its position in shares of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) by 71.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 82,003 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 208,872 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S’s holdings in EchoStar were worth $6,262,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in 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 buying an additional 1,511 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew 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 acquiring an additional 3,199 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 24,749 shares during the period. Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in EchoStar in the 1st quarter valued at $128,000. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its stake in EchoStar by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 15,055 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $417,000 after purchasing an additional 910 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 have recently commented on SATS. Zacks Research cut shares of EchoStar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley upgraded EchoStar from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $82.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Williams Trading set a $158.00 target price on EchoStar in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.83.

EchoStar Price Performance

Shares of SATS opened at $111.61 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $109.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.33. EchoStar Corporation has a twelve month low of $14.90 and a twelve month high of $132.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.13 billion, a PE ratio of -2.49 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other EchoStar news, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 285,832 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,688,870.65. This trade represents a 43.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO John Swieringa sold 22,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.34, for a total transaction of $1,481,480.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 283,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,091,496.06. This trade represents a 7.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 55.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.