Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Has $6.05 Million Stock Holdings in EchoStar Corporation $SATS

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its stake in shares of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) by 25.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 51,689 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,615 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in EchoStar were worth $6,051,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sachem Head Capital Management LP bought a new stake in EchoStar in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $568,218,000. Icahn Carl C bought a new position in shares of EchoStar during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $332,513,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,524,576 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $382,595,000 after acquiring an additional 48,671 shares during the last quarter. Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd increased its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 68.6% during the 4th quarter. Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd now owns 2,181,728 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $237,154,000 after acquiring an additional 887,611 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in EchoStar by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,767,338 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $192,110,000 after acquiring an additional 22,900 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 33.62% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other EchoStar news, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 52,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.00, for a total transaction of $6,362,906.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 865,633 shares in the company, valued at approximately $104,741,593. This trade represents a 5.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 55.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

EchoStar Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of SATS opened at $103.80 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $117.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $117.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.17, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.27. EchoStar Corporation has a one year low of $24.15 and a one year high of $147.25. The company has a market cap of $30.08 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.07 and a beta of 0.94.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last released its earnings results on Saturday, May 9th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.51) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.48) by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $3.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.65 billion. EchoStar had a negative net margin of 97.56% and a negative return on equity of 4.80%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.71) EPS.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SATS has been the subject of several research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Monday, April 20th. TD Cowen upped their target price on EchoStar from $129.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Williams Trading set a $155.00 target price on EchoStar in a research note on Monday, May 18th. New Street Research set a $165.00 price target on EchoStar in a report on Monday, June 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded EchoStar from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, EchoStar has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $137.71.

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.