Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Buys 46,342 Shares of EchoStar Corporation $SATS

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its position in EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) by 7,173.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 46,988 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 46,342 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in EchoStar were worth $3,588,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SATS. Darsana Capital Partners LP increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $248,192,000 after purchasing an additional 1,201,672 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of EchoStar by 11.5% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,449,193 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $95,553,000 after buying an additional 355,009 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in EchoStar by 32.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,268,572 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $35,139,000 after buying an additional 313,314 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in EchoStar by 30.1% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 913,292 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $25,298,000 after buying an additional 211,421 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in EchoStar during the third quarter valued at about $42,464,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 33.62% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at EchoStar

In other news, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 285,832 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.33, for a total transaction of $30,106,684.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 376,805 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,688,870.65. This represents a 43.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO John Swieringa sold 22,000 shares of EchoStar stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.34, for a total value of $1,481,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 55.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on SATS shares. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Zacks Research downgraded EchoStar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of EchoStar from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $82.00 to $110.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of EchoStar from $87.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Finally, Williams Trading set a $158.00 target price on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.17.

EchoStar Stock Down 11.8%

Shares of SATS opened at $113.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.53 and a beta of 1.02. EchoStar Corporation has a 1 year low of $14.90 and a 1 year high of $132.25. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $104.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $73.86.

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

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.