EchoStar Corporation $SATS Position Raised by State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its position in shares of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) by 34.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 89,902 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,195 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in EchoStar were worth $2,490,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moment Partners LLC raised its holdings in EchoStar by 100.1% during the second quarter. Moment Partners LLC now owns 18,252 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $506,000 after purchasing an additional 9,130 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC bought a new stake in EchoStar during the second quarter worth approximately $130,000. Ethic Inc. bought a new stake in EchoStar during the second quarter worth approximately $221,000. Tiptree Advisors LLC raised its holdings in EchoStar by 63.3% during the second quarter. Tiptree Advisors LLC now owns 219,211 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $6,072,000 after purchasing an additional 85,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Securian Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in EchoStar by 11.4% during the second quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,219 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $283,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 33.62% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SATS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen boosted their target price on EchoStar from $28.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 27th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of EchoStar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Wednesday, August 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of EchoStar from $59.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $105.00 price target on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.20.

Insider Activity

In other EchoStar news, Director Kathleen Q. Abernathy sold 16,754 shares of EchoStar stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.35, for a total transaction of $1,379,691.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 233,918 shares of EchoStar stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.35, for a total transaction of $17,625,721.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 376,805 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 460,740 shares of company stock valued at $35,967,480. 55.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

EchoStar Trading Up 0.6%

NASDAQ SATS opened at $74.80 on Wednesday. EchoStar Corporation has a twelve month low of $14.90 and a twelve month high of $85.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.22. The stock has a market cap of $21.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -71.24 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $68.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.10.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.06) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.12) by $0.06. EchoStar had a negative net margin of 2.04% and a negative return on equity of 1.58%. The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.76) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that EchoStar Corporation will post -1.99 EPS for the current year.

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.