Legal & General Group Plc Purchases 114,018 Shares of EchoStar Corporation $SATS

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc increased its EchoStar stake by 47% in the fourth quarter, buying an additional 114,018 shares and bringing its total holdings to 356,447 shares worth about $38.7 million.
• Several other institutional investors also added to EchoStar positions, while institutional ownership stands at 33.62% and insider ownership is relatively high at 55.90%.
• EchoStar reported a quarterly EPS loss of $0.51, slightly worse than expectations, though revenue of $3.67 billion came in modestly above estimates; analysts currently rate the stock a Hold on average with a consensus target price of $137.14.

Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS - Free Report) by 47.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 356,447 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 114,018 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.12% of EchoStar worth $38,746,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SATS. DLD Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of EchoStar in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,481,700,000. Icahn Carl C bought a new position in shares of EchoStar in the 3rd quarter valued at about $332,513,000. Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd bought a new position in shares of EchoStar in the 3rd quarter valued at about $98,819,000. Junto Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of EchoStar in the 3rd quarter valued at about $55,199,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of EchoStar in the 3rd quarter valued at about $53,736,000. Institutional investors own 33.62% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other EchoStar news, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 71,005 shares of EchoStar stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.52, for a total value of $7,634,457.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 823,293 shares in the company, valued at $88,520,463.36. The trade was a 7.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO John Swieringa sold 50,088 shares of EchoStar stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.58, for a total transaction of $5,688,995.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 253,535 shares of the company's stock, valued at $28,796,505.30. This trade represents a 16.50% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 55.90% of the company's stock.

EchoStar Stock Performance

Shares of SATS stock opened at $129.19 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $37.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.58 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.17, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.30. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $124.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $110.95. EchoStar Corporation has a 52 week low of $14.90 and a 52 week high of $147.25.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $3.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.65 billion. EchoStar had a negative return on equity of 4.80% and a negative net margin of 97.56%.During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.71) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that EchoStar Corporation will post -3.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SATS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of EchoStar from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Williams Trading set a $155.00 price objective on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Monday, May 18th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of EchoStar from $129.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of EchoStar from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of EchoStar in a report on Monday, April 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, EchoStar currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $137.14.

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.

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