Gabelli Funds LLC Has $9.97 Million Stake in EchoStar Corporation $SATS

Gabelli Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) by 24.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 359,805 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 70,000 shares during the quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC owned about 0.13% of EchoStar worth $9,967,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SATS. Cetera Investment Advisers bought a new position in EchoStar during the 1st quarter worth approximately $236,000. Federated Hermes Inc. acquired a new stake in EchoStar in the first quarter worth $166,000. Blair William & Co. IL acquired a new stake in EchoStar in the first quarter worth $334,000. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in shares of EchoStar by 8.7% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 270,025 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $6,907,000 after purchasing an additional 21,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC boosted its position in shares of EchoStar by 282.1% during the first quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 150,888 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $3,860,000 after purchasing an additional 111,398 shares in the last quarter. 33.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on SATS shares. Zacks Research cut shares of EchoStar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. TD Cowen raised their price target on EchoStar from $28.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 27th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of EchoStar in a report on Wednesday, August 27th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on EchoStar from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.60.

EchoStar Stock Performance

Shares of EchoStar stock opened at $88.26 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $25.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.97 and a beta of 1.03. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $73.60 and its 200-day moving average is $50.45. EchoStar Corporation has a one year low of $14.90 and a one year high of $90.40.

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

Insider Transactions at EchoStar

In related news, COO Paul Gaske sold 9,483 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.87, for a total value of $719,475.21. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,304.63. This trade represents a 98.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 233,918 shares of EchoStar stock in a transaction on Friday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.35, for a total transaction of $17,625,721.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 376,805 shares in the company, valued at $28,392,256.75. The trade was a 38.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 266,151 shares of company stock valued at $19,885,417 in the last ninety days. 55.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

EchoStar 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.