Voya Investment Management LLC Lowers Position in EchoStar Corporation $SATS

Key Points

• Voya Investment Management LLC significantly reduced its holdings in EchoStar Corporation by 99.9%, owning only 32,745 shares after selling over 27 million shares in the first quarter.
• Despite a recent **earnings report** showing a loss of ($1.06) per share, analysts have raised their price targets for EchoStar, with Citigroup increasing their target from $67.00 to $85.00.
• Insiders, including Director Kathleen Q. Abernathy and CEO Hamid Akhavan, have recently sold significant amounts of stock, indicating a **decrease in ownership stakes** amidst ongoing market activity.

Voya Investment Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS - Free Report) by 99.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,745 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 27,039,070 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC's holdings in EchoStar were worth $838,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 8,125.0% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 987 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 975 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 44.5% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,841 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 567 shares during the period. State of Wyoming bought a new position in shares of EchoStar in the fourth quarter worth $47,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 39.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,441 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $88,000 after acquiring an additional 976 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 70,980.0% in the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 3,554 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $91,000 after acquiring an additional 3,549 shares during the period. 33.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

EchoStar Stock Down 0.7%

NASDAQ SATS opened at $73.10 on Thursday. 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 has a market capitalization of $21.03 billion, a PE ratio of -69.62 and a beta of 0.99. EchoStar Corporation has a 1 year low of $14.90 and a 1 year high of $85.37. The business's 50-day moving average is $46.52 and its 200 day moving average is $31.61.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on SATS. Citigroup raised their price target on EchoStar from $67.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on EchoStar from $28.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $105.00 price objective on EchoStar in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of EchoStar in a research note on Wednesday, August 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on EchoStar from $59.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $75.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other EchoStar news, Director Kathleen Q. Abernathy sold 16,754 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 233,918 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.35, for a total transaction of $17,625,721.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 376,805 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $28,392,256.75. This represents a 38.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 460,740 shares of company stock valued at $35,967,480. 55.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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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