Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Purchases New Shares in EchoStar Corporation $SATS

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 40,513 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,403,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 30,195 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,282,000 after buying an additional 1,275 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 37.1% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 10,860 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,180,000 after buying an additional 2,936 shares during the last quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of EchoStar in the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 83.4% in the fourth quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 148,698 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $16,163,000 after buying an additional 67,623 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 304,205 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $33,067,000 after buying an additional 17,100 shares during the last quarter. 33.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on SATS. TD Cowen lifted their price target on EchoStar from $129.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Williams Trading set a $155.00 price objective on EchoStar in a report on Monday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a report on Monday, April 20th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on EchoStar from $111.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised EchoStar from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Four equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, EchoStar has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $137.14.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 71,005 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 823,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $88,520,463.36. The trade was a 7.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO John Swieringa sold 50,088 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.58, for a total value of $5,688,995.04. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 253,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,796,505.30. The trade was a 16.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 55.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

EchoStar Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SATS opened at $124.20 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.88 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.48 and a beta of 0.95. EchoStar Corporation has a 1-year low of $14.90 and a 1-year high of $147.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.17. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $123.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $109.10.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). The firm had revenue of $3.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.65 billion. EchoStar had a negative return on equity of 4.80% and a negative net margin of 97.56%.During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.71) earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that EchoStar Corporation will post -2.51 earnings per share for the current year.

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.