Swiss National Bank Lowers Stake in EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS)

Swiss National Bank trimmed its holdings in EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS) by 0.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 246,425 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,700 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in EchoStar were worth $6,116,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in EchoStar by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 21,790 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $541,000 after acquiring an additional 1,942 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of EchoStar by 5.4% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 324,416 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $8,052,000 after acquiring an additional 16,595 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in EchoStar by 11.0% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 46,767 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,161,000 after purchasing an additional 4,626 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in EchoStar in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $285,000. Finally, Creative Planning increased its stake in EchoStar by 42.1% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 35,395 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,491 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $12.00 target price on shares of EchoStar in a report on Monday, August 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of EchoStar to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 9th. Raymond James cut shares of EchoStar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of EchoStar from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on EchoStar from $14.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.25.

EchoStar Price Performance

EchoStar stock opened at $24.87 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $24.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.76 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.72 and a beta of 0.70. EchoStar Co. has a 12-month low of $10.18 and a 12-month high of $30.08.

Insider Activity at EchoStar

In other EchoStar news, Chairman Charles W. Ergen purchased 1,551,355 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $28.04 per share, for a total transaction of $43,499,994.20. Following the acquisition, the chairman now owns 1,551,355 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,499,994.20. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 55.90% of the company’s stock.

EchoStar Company Profile

EchoStar Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides networking technologies and services worldwide. The company operates in four segments: Pay-TV, Retail Wireless, 5G Network Deployment, Broadband and Satellite Services. The Pay-TV segment offers a direct broadcast and fixed satellite services; designs, develops, and distributes receiver system; and provides digital broadcast operations, including satellite uplinking/downlinking, transmission and, other services to third-party pay-TV providers; and multichannel, live-linear and on-demand streaming over-the-top internet-based domestic, international, Latino, and Freestream video programming services under the DISH and SLING brand names.