Perigon Wealth Management LLC Takes $376,000 Position in EchoStar Corporation $SATS

Perigon Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 4,923 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $376,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Voya Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of EchoStar by 0.8% in the third quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 37,456 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,860,000 after buying an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in EchoStar by 20.7% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,788 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $213,000 after acquiring an additional 478 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in EchoStar by 16.6% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,235 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $145,000 after acquiring an additional 746 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of EchoStar by 593.2% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 922 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 789 shares during the period. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its stake in shares of EchoStar by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 15,055 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $417,000 after purchasing an additional 910 shares during the period. 33.62% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

EchoStar Stock Up 3.2%

Shares of NASDAQ SATS opened at $112.18 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $85.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11. EchoStar Corporation has a 12-month low of $14.90 and a 12-month high of $112.69. The company has a market cap of $32.29 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.50 and a beta of 1.02.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last released its quarterly 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). EchoStar had a positive return on equity of 0.39% and a negative net margin of 85.36%.The company had revenue of $3.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.75 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.52) EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that EchoStar Corporation will post -1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on SATS shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective on EchoStar from $28.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of EchoStar from $87.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of EchoStar from $97.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of EchoStar from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $82.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $108.80.

Insider Transactions at EchoStar

In other EchoStar news, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 285,832 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.33, for a total transaction of $30,106,684.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 376,805 shares in the company, valued at $39,688,870.65. This trade represents a 43.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO John Swieringa sold 22,000 shares of EchoStar stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.34, for a total transaction of $1,481,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 283,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,091,496.06. This trade represents a 7.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 55.90% of the company’s stock.

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.