Potomac Capital Management Inc. Makes New $27.06 Million Investment in EchoStar Corporation $SATS

Potomac Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 248,900 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $27,055,000. EchoStar comprises about 21.7% of Potomac Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CoreCap Advisors LLC acquired a new position in EchoStar during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton acquired a new position in EchoStar during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Tucker Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in EchoStar during the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. BOKF NA boosted its position in EchoStar by 300.0% during the 4th quarter. BOKF NA now owns 400 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Godfrey Financial Associates Inc. acquired a new position in EchoStar during the 4th quarter worth approximately $51,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.62% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at EchoStar

In other EchoStar news, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 52,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.00, for a total transaction of $6,362,906.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 865,633 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $104,741,593. This trade represents a 5.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 55.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SATS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Williams Trading set a $155.00 price objective on EchoStar in a report on Monday, May 18th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of EchoStar from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Zacks Research cut shares of EchoStar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of EchoStar from $129.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of EchoStar from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $137.14.

EchoStar Stock Performance

Shares of SATS stock opened at $116.77 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $33.84 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.33 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.17, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $125.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $113.76. EchoStar Corporation has a one year low of $15.86 and a one year high of $147.25.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, May 9th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.51) earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $3.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.71) EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that EchoStar Corporation will post -3.79 EPS for the current year.

EchoStar 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.