Insider Selling: EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) CEO Sells 233,918 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Hamid Akhavan, the CEO of EchoStar, sold 233,918 shares of the company's stock for approximately $17.63 million, resulting in a 38.30% decrease in his ownership.
• As of the latest trading session, EchoStar's stock price dropped to $69.80, with its market cap at about $20.08 billion and a P/E ratio of -66.48.
• Recent analyst ratings show a mixed outlook for EchoStar, with price targets set from $28.00 to $105.00 and a consensus "Hold" rating on the stock.

EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS - Get Free Report) CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 233,918 shares of EchoStar stock in a transaction on Friday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.35, for a total value of $17,625,721.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 376,805 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,392,256.75. This represents a 38.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

EchoStar Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of NASDAQ SATS traded up $1.25 during trading on Friday, hitting $72.47. 7,025,412 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,561,747. EchoStar Corporation has a 12-month low of $14.90 and a 12-month high of $85.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.22. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $43.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.85 billion, a PE ratio of -69.02 and a beta of 0.99.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SATS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $105.00 price objective on shares of EchoStar in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of EchoStar in a report on Wednesday, August 27th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of EchoStar from $28.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of EchoStar from $59.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of EchoStar in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $63.90.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On EchoStar

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SATS. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of EchoStar by 8,125.0% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 987 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 975 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming acquired a new position in shares of EchoStar during the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in shares of EchoStar by 44.5% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,841 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 567 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in EchoStar in the second quarter valued at approximately $73,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in EchoStar by 39.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,441 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 976 shares in the last quarter. 33.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.