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

EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 52,586 shares of EchoStar 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $104,741,593. This represents a 5.73% 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. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

EchoStar Price Performance

NASDAQ SATS traded up $0.15 on Tuesday, hitting $116.77. 7,364,323 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,084,306. EchoStar Corporation has a 1-year low of $15.86 and a 1-year high of $147.25. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $125.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $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 company has a market cap of $33.84 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.33 and a beta of 0.94.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last announced its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $3.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.71) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that EchoStar Corporation will post -3.79 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SATS has been the subject of several recent research reports. New Street Research initiated coverage on EchoStar in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $161.00 price objective for the company. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of EchoStar from $129.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of EchoStar from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of EchoStar from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of EchoStar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $137.14.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in EchoStar by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 26,805 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $672,000 after acquiring an additional 1,511 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in EchoStar by 4.6% during the 1st 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 raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 24,749 shares during the period. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of EchoStar in the first quarter valued at about $128,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 18.6% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 13,528 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $377,000 after purchasing an additional 2,119 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.62% 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.