Empyrean Capital Partners LP Grows Stock Position in EchoStar Corporation $SATS

Empyrean Capital Partners LP boosted its holdings in EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) by 20.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 228,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 39,000 shares during the period. Empyrean Capital Partners LP’s holdings in EchoStar were worth $26,692,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SATS. Bellwether Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of EchoStar during the 4th quarter worth $3,593,000. Dockside LLC purchased a new stake in EchoStar in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,554,000. Seven Grand Managers LLC purchased a new stake in EchoStar in the 4th quarter valued at about $21,740,000. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in EchoStar by 47.0% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 356,447 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $38,746,000 after buying an additional 114,018 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. acquired a new position in EchoStar in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,994,000. 33.62% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at EchoStar

In other news, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 52,586 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 865,633 shares in the company, valued at approximately $104,741,593. This trade represents a 5.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 55.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SATS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of EchoStar from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Williams Trading set a $155.00 target price on shares of EchoStar in a report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, New Street Research set a $165.00 target price on shares of EchoStar in a report on Monday, June 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, EchoStar currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $137.71.

EchoStar Trading Down 0.1%

NASDAQ SATS opened at $103.80 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $30.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.07 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $112.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $116.83. EchoStar Corporation has a one year low of $24.15 and a one year high of $147.25.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last announced its earnings results on Saturday, May 9th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.51) earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $3.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.71) earnings per share.

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.