Citigroup Inc. Acquires 40,533 Shares of EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS)

Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in shares of EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS - Free Report) by 32.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 164,534 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 40,533 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc. owned about 0.06% of EchoStar worth $4,084,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in EchoStar by 125.3% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,442 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 802 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in EchoStar by 694.8% in the second quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,677 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 1,466 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in EchoStar by 122.9% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,199 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 2,315 shares during the period. Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd acquired a new position in shares of EchoStar during the second quarter worth approximately $89,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of EchoStar during the third quarter worth approximately $165,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.62% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at EchoStar

In related news, Chairman Charles W. Ergen purchased 1,551,355 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $28.04 per share, with a total value of $43,499,994.20. Following the completion of the purchase, the chairman now owns 1,551,355 shares of the company's stock, valued at $43,499,994.20. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 55.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

EchoStar Stock Down 2.2 %

NASDAQ:SATS traded down $0.55 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $24.00. 1,169,054 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,806,286. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $24.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. EchoStar Co. has a fifty-two week low of $10.91 and a fifty-two week high of $30.08. The firm has a market cap of $6.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.66 and a beta of 0.69.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

EchoStar 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.