MetLife Investment Management LLC Increases Holdings in EchoStar Corporation $SATS

Key Points

• MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its investment in EchoStar Corporation by 84.9% in Q1, acquiring an additional 62,837 shares, bringing its total holdings to 136,810 valued at $3.5 million.
• EchoStar's stock saw a significant rise of 8.5% and has fluctuated between a 12-month low of $14.90 and a high of $61.87, reflecting its market cap of $17.78 billion.
• Analysts have increased their price targets for EchoStar, with recommendations ranging from $49.90 to $67.00, indicating a optimistic outlook on the stock's performance.

MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS - Free Report) by 84.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 136,810 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 62,837 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC's holdings in EchoStar were worth $3,500,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Diameter Capital Partners LP boosted its position in EchoStar by 523.7% during the fourth quarter. Diameter Capital Partners LP now owns 5,026,823 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $115,114,000 after buying an additional 4,220,853 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in EchoStar by 325.3% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 940,950 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $21,548,000 after acquiring an additional 719,685 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in EchoStar by 223.0% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 498,154 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $11,408,000 after acquiring an additional 343,913 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in EchoStar by 25.3% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,699,986 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $43,486,000 after purchasing an additional 343,590 shares during the period. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP bought a new position in shares of EchoStar in the fourth quarter worth approximately $6,526,000. Institutional investors own 33.62% of the company's stock.

EchoStar Price Performance

Shares of SATS stock traded up $3.05 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $66.96. The company had a trading volume of 2,770,819 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,364,792. EchoStar Corporation has a 52-week low of $14.90 and a 52-week high of $67.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $33.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.05. The company has a market capitalization of $19.27 billion, a P/E ratio of -63.87 and a beta of 0.99.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.06) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.12) by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.80 billion. EchoStar had a negative return on equity of 1.58% and a negative net margin of 2.04%.The firm's revenue was down 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.76) earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that EchoStar Corporation will post -1.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SATS shares. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on EchoStar from $28.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 27th. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of EchoStar in a report on Friday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of EchoStar from $25.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of EchoStar from $43.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 27th. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of EchoStar in a report on Wednesday, August 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, EchoStar presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $49.90.

About EchoStar

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.