Van ECK Associates Corp Increases Position in EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS)

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS - Free Report) by 309.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 133,108 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 100,608 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp's holdings in EchoStar were worth $3,048,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SATS. Darsana Capital Partners LP lifted its position in EchoStar by 44.8% during the third quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 3,000,000 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $74,460,000 after purchasing an additional 927,695 shares during the period. Stonehill Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in EchoStar during the third quarter valued at $9,235,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in EchoStar by 1.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,776,238 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $118,546,000 after purchasing an additional 62,674 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of EchoStar in the third quarter worth about $1,230,000. Finally, Citigroup Inc. raised its position in shares of EchoStar by 32.7% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 164,534 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $4,084,000 after acquiring an additional 40,533 shares during the period. 33.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

EchoStar Price Performance

Shares of SATS traded down $0.60 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $29.57. 1,461,247 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,697,893. EchoStar Co. has a 1-year low of $11.83 and a 1-year high of $30.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.67. The company has a 50 day moving average of $25.74 and a 200-day moving average of $23.97. The stock has a market cap of $8.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.23 and a beta of 0.72.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SATS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of EchoStar from $37.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of EchoStar from $15.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Monday, December 16th. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $25.00 price objective for the company. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of EchoStar to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, November 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, EchoStar has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $23.75.

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.