EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) COO John Swieringa Sells 154,835 Shares

Key Points

• EchoStar's COO, John Swieringa, sold 154,835 shares of the company's stock for approximately $12.57 million, significantly reducing his ownership by 99.72%.
• Following the sale, EchoStar's stock price fell by 3.6%, closing at $77.04, despite having a 52-week high of $85.37.
• In its last quarterly earnings report, EchoStar reported a loss of ($1.06) earnings per share, narrowly beating analysts' estimates and showing a 5.8% decline in year-over-year revenue.

EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS - Get Free Report) COO John Swieringa sold 154,835 shares of EchoStar stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.20, for a total transaction of $12,572,602.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 432 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $35,078.40. This trade represents a 99.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

EchoStar Stock Down 3.6%

NASDAQ SATS traded down $2.85 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $77.04. 7,088,363 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,586,384. EchoStar Corporation has a 52-week low of $14.90 and a 52-week high of $85.37. The firm has a market cap of $22.17 billion, a PE ratio of -73.37 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.80 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.76) EPS. EchoStar's revenue was down 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that EchoStar Corporation will post -1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On EchoStar

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SATS. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC purchased a new position in EchoStar during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $244,000. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in EchoStar by 325.3% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 940,950 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $21,548,000 after purchasing an additional 719,685 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in EchoStar by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 69,283 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $1,587,000 after purchasing an additional 2,712 shares in the last quarter. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP purchased a new position in EchoStar during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $216,000. Finally, Numerai GP LLC lifted its holdings in EchoStar by 22.5% during the fourth quarter. Numerai GP LLC now owns 28,725 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $658,000 after purchasing an additional 5,276 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 33.62% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of EchoStar in a report on Friday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of EchoStar from $59.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $105.00 target price on shares of EchoStar in a report on Tuesday. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of EchoStar in a report on Wednesday, August 27th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of EchoStar from $28.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $63.90.

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.

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