Bellwether Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in EchoStar Corporation $SATS

Bellwether Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) by 16.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 38,367 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,315 shares during the period. Bellwether Advisors LLC’s holdings in EchoStar were worth $4,492,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SATS. Hollencrest Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of EchoStar during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC bought a new stake in EchoStar in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Tucker Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in EchoStar in the fourth quarter worth approximately $42,000. BOKF NA boosted its stake in EchoStar by 300.0% in the fourth quarter. BOKF NA now owns 400 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. bought a new position in EchoStar during the first quarter valued at approximately $51,000. 33.62% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research note on Monday, April 20th. TD Cowen upped their price objective 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. New Street Research set a $165.00 target price on shares of EchoStar in a report on Monday, June 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of EchoStar from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Williams Trading set a $155.00 target price on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $137.71.

EchoStar Price Performance

SATS opened at $103.80 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $115.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $117.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.17, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.27. EchoStar Corporation has a 1 year low of $24.15 and a 1 year high of $147.25. The firm has a market cap of $30.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.07 and a beta of 0.94.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, May 9th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.51) EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $3.65 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.71) earnings per share.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 52,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 865,633 shares in the company, valued at approximately $104,741,593. This trade represents a 5.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 55.90% of the company’s stock.

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.