Saudi Central Bank Makes New $923,000 Investment in Echostar CORP $ECHO

Saudi Central Bank acquired a new stake in Echostar CORP (NASDAQ:ECHO) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 9,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $923,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ECHO. Hollencrest Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Echostar during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Strive Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Echostar in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. acquired a new stake in Echostar in the first quarter worth about $34,000. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. acquired a new stake in Echostar in the second quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Echostar by 134.8% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 324 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. 33.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on ECHO shares. UBS Group upgraded shares of Echostar from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $127.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Echostar from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Weiss Ratings started coverage on shares of Echostar in a research note on Monday, July 6th. They set a “sell (d-)” rating for the company. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Echostar from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $137.00 target price on shares of Echostar in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.88.

Insider Activity

In other Echostar news, Director William Wade sold 2,575 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.65, for a total value of $238,573.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $254,694.85. The trade was a 48.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen Bye sold 8,508 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.83, for a total value of $764,273.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 653 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,658.99. This trade represents a 92.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 13,508 shares of company stock worth $1,224,686. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Echostar Trading Down 2.2%

Echostar stock opened at $91.32 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 5.20 and a quick ratio of 5.12. The firm has a market cap of $26.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.66 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $89.85. Echostar CORP has a 1 year low of $65.76 and a 1 year high of $147.25.

Echostar (NASDAQ:ECHO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, May 9th. The company reported ($0.51) earnings per share for the quarter. Echostar had a negative return on equity of 1.28% and a negative net margin of 38.71%.The firm had revenue of $3.67 billion for the quarter. Research analysts anticipate that Echostar CORP will post -1.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Echostar Company Profile

EchoStar Corporation is a global communications and technology company that provides satellite, broadband, and wireless connectivity services. Its operations include satellite communications, broadband internet, enterprise networking, and related technology solutions for consumers, businesses, and government customers.

Through its Hughes business, EchoStar provides satellite-based broadband services under the HughesNet brand, as well as managed network services, equipment, and connectivity solutions for residential and commercial users.