EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS) Chairman Charles W. Ergen Buys 1,551,355 Shares

EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS) Chairman Charles W. Ergen purchased 1,551,355 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $28.04 per share, for a total transaction of $43,499,994.20. Following the completion of the purchase, the chairman now directly owns 1,551,355 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,499,994.20. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

EchoStar Trading Up 4.6 %

NASDAQ:SATS traded up $1.02 on Friday, reaching $23.01. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 297,812 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,792,708. EchoStar Co. has a 12-month low of $9.53 and a 12-month high of $30.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $24.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.54.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on SATS. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on EchoStar from $37.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on EchoStar from $14.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on EchoStar from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. StockNews.com raised EchoStar to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 9th. Finally, Raymond James lowered EchoStar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.25.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On EchoStar

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SATS. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in EchoStar by 238.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,707,909 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $195,338,000 after purchasing an additional 9,661,167 shares during the period. Darsana Capital Partners LP increased its holdings in EchoStar by 44.8% during the 3rd quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 3,000,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $74,460,000 after purchasing an additional 927,695 shares during the period. Goldentree Asset Management LP increased its holdings in EchoStar by 20.4% during the 1st quarter. Goldentree Asset Management LP now owns 2,505,475 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $35,703,000 after purchasing an additional 424,259 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of EchoStar by 51.5% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,243,761 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $39,961,000 after acquiring an additional 762,462 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Monarch Alternative Capital LP boosted its position in shares of EchoStar by 23.6% during the 2nd quarter. Monarch Alternative Capital LP now owns 1,854,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $33,020,000 after acquiring an additional 354,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 33.62% of the company’s stock.

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.