Hamid Akhavan Sells 71,005 Shares of EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) Stock

EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 71,005 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.52, for a total value of $7,634,457.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 823,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $88,520,463.36. This represents a 7.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Hamid Akhavan also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, December 11th, Hamid Akhavan sold 285,832 shares of EchoStar stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.33, for a total transaction of $30,106,684.56.

EchoStar Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SATS traded down $1.42 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $108.50. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,988,992 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,822,025. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.42. EchoStar Corporation has a 52 week low of $14.90 and a 52 week high of $132.25. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $115.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $90.93.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On EchoStar

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SATS. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of EchoStar in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators acquired a new stake in EchoStar during the third quarter valued at $28,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC purchased a new position in EchoStar in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton purchased a new stake in shares of EchoStar during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of EchoStar during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.62% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of EchoStar from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Zacks Research upgraded EchoStar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Morgan Stanley upgraded EchoStar from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $82.00 to $110.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Williams Trading set a $158.00 price target on EchoStar in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.17.

EchoStar Company Profile

EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS) is a global provider of satellite communication solutions, offering a suite of broadband and video delivery services to consumer, enterprise and government customers. The company operates two principal business segments: Broadband and Video. Through its Broadband segment, EchoStar delivers high-speed satellite internet access, managed network services and ground infrastructure for residential, commercial and rural markets. Its Video segment provides satellite fleet operations, teleport facilities and capacity-leasing services to video distributors and content providers.

In the Broadband segment, EchoStar’s Hughes Network Systems division designs and manufactures satellite broadband equipment, including user terminals and gateways, and develops advanced network management technologies.