KBC Group NV Grows Position in EchoStar Corporation $SATS

KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) by 40.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,643 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,334 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in EchoStar were worth $3,002,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SATS. Hollencrest Capital Management bought a new stake in EchoStar during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of EchoStar in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Tucker Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of EchoStar during the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. BOKF NA lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. bought a new position in EchoStar in the 1st quarter worth about $51,000. 33.62% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SATS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of EchoStar from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. New Street Research set a $165.00 price target on shares of EchoStar in a report on Monday, June 15th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of EchoStar from $129.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Williams Trading set a $155.00 target price on EchoStar in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, EchoStar has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $137.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other EchoStar news, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 52,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.00, for a total value 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 represents a 5.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 55.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

EchoStar Stock Performance

EchoStar stock opened at $103.80 on Friday. EchoStar Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $24.15 and a fifty-two week high of $147.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.17, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market cap of $30.08 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.07 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $113.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $116.87.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last announced its 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 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 quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.71) earnings per share.

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.