Fifth Third Bancorp Has $1.63 Million Holdings in EchoStar Corporation $SATS

Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) by 673.3% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 13,919 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,119 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in EchoStar were worth $1,630,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hollencrest Capital Management bought a new position in shares of EchoStar during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC bought a new position in EchoStar during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Tucker Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in EchoStar during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. BOKF NA increased its position in EchoStar by 300.0% during the 4th quarter. BOKF NA now owns 400 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. acquired a new position in shares of EchoStar in the first quarter valued at approximately $51,000. 33.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on SATS. Williams Trading set a $155.00 price target on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of EchoStar from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. TD Cowen raised their target price on EchoStar from $129.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, New Street Research set a $165.00 price target on shares of EchoStar in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Four investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, EchoStar presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $137.71.

Insider Activity at EchoStar

In other news, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 52,586 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.00, for a total transaction of $6,362,906.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 865,633 shares in the company, valued at $104,741,593. This represents a 5.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through 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 insiders.

EchoStar Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ SATS opened at $103.80 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.17. EchoStar Corporation has a 12 month low of $24.15 and a 12 month high of $147.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.08 billion, a PE ratio of -2.07 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $114.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $116.96.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, May 9th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.51) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.48) by ($0.03). EchoStar had a negative net margin of 97.56% and a negative return on equity of 4.80%. The firm had revenue of $3.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.71) EPS.

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.