Leonteq Securities AG Buys Shares of 7,211 EchoStar Corporation $SATS

Leonteq Securities AG bought a new stake in EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 7,211 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $784,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of SATS. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators bought a new position in EchoStar in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC bought a new position in EchoStar in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton bought a new position in EchoStar in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in EchoStar in the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Tucker Asset Management LLC bought a new position in EchoStar in the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. Institutional investors own 33.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SATS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Zacks Research downgraded EchoStar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Citigroup raised their price objective on EchoStar from $111.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. New Street Research started coverage on EchoStar in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $161.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group raised their price objective on EchoStar from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised EchoStar from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $137.14.

Insider Activity at EchoStar

In related news, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 71,005 shares of EchoStar stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.52, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 7.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO John Swieringa sold 50,088 shares of EchoStar stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were 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 trade represents a 16.50% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 55.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

EchoStar Stock Down 3.3%

NASDAQ SATS opened at $124.20 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $123.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $109.10. 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 52 week low of $14.90 and a 52 week high of $147.25. The company has a market capitalization of $35.88 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.48 and a beta of 0.95.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 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 the consensus estimate of $3.65 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.71) EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that EchoStar Corporation will post -2.51 earnings per share for the current year.

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.