Oak Thistle LLC Invests $1.48 Million in EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS)

Oak Thistle LLC bought a new position in shares of EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 89,502 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,483,000. Oak Thistle LLC owned 0.11% of EchoStar at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SATS. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 126.6% during the 2nd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,448 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 809 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. acquired a new position in EchoStar in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in shares of EchoStar by 95.0% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,827 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,377 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of EchoStar by 159.9% during the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,888 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 1,777 shares during the period. Finally, UBS Group AG raised its stake in shares of EchoStar by 139.4% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 5,053 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 2,942 shares in the last quarter. 33.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

EchoStar Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SATS traded down $0.21 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $14.04. 1,376,640 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,677,373. The company has a market cap of $3.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.02 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.61. EchoStar Co. has a twelve month low of $9.53 and a twelve month high of $24.80. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $13.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $13.77.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $1.19. EchoStar had a positive return on equity of 5.24% and a negative net margin of 36.33%. The firm had revenue of $4.16 billion during the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 732.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that EchoStar Co. will post -1.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on SATS shares. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of EchoStar from $39.00 to $38.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 4th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of EchoStar from $11.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of EchoStar in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $18.00 price target for the company. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on EchoStar in a research report on Thursday. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $24.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at EchoStar

In related news, Director James Defranco purchased 110,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $13.48 per share, with a total value of $1,482,800.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 306,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,137,699.48. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 55.90% of the company's stock.

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.