Jennison Associates LLC Takes Position in EchoStar Corporation $SATS

Jennison Associates LLC bought a new position in shares of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 5,122 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $600,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SATS. Hollencrest Capital Management bought a new position in EchoStar during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of EchoStar in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Tucker Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of EchoStar in the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. BOKF NA grew its stake in shares of EchoStar by 300.0% in the fourth quarter. BOKF NA now owns 400 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. bought a new position in EchoStar during the first quarter worth about $51,000. 33.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at EchoStar

In other EchoStar news, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 52,586 shares of the business’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 transaction of $6,362,906.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 865,633 shares in the company, valued at $104,741,593. The trade was 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 available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 55.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

EchoStar Trading Down 0.1%

SATS opened at $103.80 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.07 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.17. EchoStar Corporation has a twelve month low of $24.15 and a twelve month high of $147.25. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $114.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $116.96.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last issued its earnings results on Saturday, May 9th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.51) 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 firm had revenue of $3.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.71) earnings per share.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.