SOL Capital Management CO Invests $382,000 in EchoStar Corporation $SATS

SOL Capital Management CO bought a new stake in EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 5,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $382,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Darsana Capital Partners LP boosted its holdings in EchoStar by 15.5% in the second quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 8,960,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $248,192,000 after purchasing an additional 1,201,672 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in EchoStar during the third quarter valued at approximately $42,464,000. Evergreen Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in EchoStar by 6,942.9% in the third quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 522,022 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $39,862,000 after acquiring an additional 514,610 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in EchoStar by 11.5% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,449,193 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $95,553,000 after purchasing an additional 355,009 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in shares of EchoStar during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $9,541,000. 33.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

EchoStar Price Performance

Shares of EchoStar stock opened at $123.27 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.49 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.75 and a beta of 1.02. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $94.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.36. EchoStar Corporation has a 12 month low of $14.90 and a 12 month high of $132.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.56.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($44.37) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.23) by ($43.14). EchoStar had a positive return on equity of 0.39% and a negative net margin of 85.36%.The firm had revenue of $3.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.75 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.52) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that EchoStar Corporation will post -1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 285,832 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.33, for a total transaction of $30,106,684.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 376,805 shares in the company, valued at $39,688,870.65. The trade was a 43.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO John Swieringa sold 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.34, for a total value of $1,481,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 283,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,091,496.06. This represents a 7.20% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 55.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SATS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of EchoStar from $97.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 19th. UBS Group lifted their price target on EchoStar from $28.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 23rd. Zacks Research downgraded EchoStar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on EchoStar from $100.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.17.

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.