7,224 Shares in EchoStar Corporation $SATS Bought by Gulf International Bank UK Ltd

Gulf International Bank UK Ltd bought a new stake in EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 7,224 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $785,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bellwether Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in EchoStar during the fourth quarter worth about $3,593,000. Junto Capital Management LP acquired a new position in EchoStar during the third quarter worth about $55,199,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. purchased a new position in EchoStar in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,994,000. Seven Grand Managers LLC purchased a new position in EchoStar in the fourth quarter valued at about $21,740,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new stake in shares of EchoStar during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $20,459,000. 33.62% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

EchoStar Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of SATS opened at $129.19 on Friday. 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 $14.90 and a 1-year high of $147.25. The stock has a market cap of $37.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.58 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $124.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $110.95.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last posted its earnings results on Saturday, May 9th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.51) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.48) by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $3.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.65 billion. EchoStar had a negative net margin of 97.56% and a negative return on equity of 4.80%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.71) EPS. Equities analysts forecast that EchoStar Corporation will post -3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SATS has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group upped their price target on EchoStar from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Wall Street Zen raised EchoStar from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on EchoStar from $129.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Citigroup upped their target price on EchoStar from $111.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Monday, April 20th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, EchoStar has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $137.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at EchoStar

In other news, COO John Swieringa sold 50,088 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.58, for a total value of $5,688,995.04. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 253,535 shares in the company, valued at $28,796,505.30. This represents a 16.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 71,005 shares of EchoStar stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.52, for a total value of $7,634,457.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 823,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $88,520,463.36. This represents a 7.94% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 55.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.