Hanseatic Management Services Inc. Invests $1.05 Million in EchoStar Corporation $SATS

Hanseatic Management Services Inc. bought a new stake in EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 8,952 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,048,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bellwether Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of EchoStar in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,593,000. Dockside LLC purchased a new stake in shares of EchoStar during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,554,000. Seven Grand Managers LLC acquired a new position in EchoStar during the 4th quarter worth approximately $21,740,000. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in EchoStar by 47.0% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 356,447 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $38,746,000 after acquiring an additional 114,018 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. purchased a new position in EchoStar in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,994,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SATS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of EchoStar from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. New Street Research set a $165.00 price target on shares of EchoStar in a report on Monday, June 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a report on Monday, April 20th. Williams Trading set a $155.00 price objective on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on EchoStar from $129.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Four equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, EchoStar has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $137.71.

EchoStar Trading Down 0.1%

NASDAQ SATS opened at $103.80 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $30.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.07 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.17, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.27. EchoStar Corporation has a 12 month low of $24.15 and a 12 month high of $147.25. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $116.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $117.07.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last issued its earnings results on Saturday, May 9th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.51) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.48) by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $3.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.65 billion. EchoStar had a negative net margin of 97.56% and a negative return on equity of 4.80%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.71) EPS.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other EchoStar news, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 52,586 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.00, for a total transaction of $6,362,906.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 865,633 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $104,741,593. This trade represents a 5.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 55.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.