EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS) Shares Bought by Darsana Capital Partners LP

Darsana Capital Partners LP raised its stake in EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS) by 44.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,000,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 927,695 shares during the period. EchoStar makes up approximately 1.8% of Darsana Capital Partners LP’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Darsana Capital Partners LP owned about 1.10% of EchoStar worth $74,460,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Verition Fund Management LLC increased its stake in EchoStar by 69.5% in the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 28,254 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $701,000 after purchasing an additional 11,586 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in shares of EchoStar by 3.7% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 21,589 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $536,000 after buying an additional 772 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of EchoStar during the 3rd quarter worth $383,000. Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in shares of EchoStar by 32.7% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 164,534 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $4,084,000 after buying an additional 40,533 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of EchoStar in the 3rd quarter worth about $651,000. 33.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Charles W. Ergen bought 1,551,355 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 acquisition, the chairman now owns 1,551,355 shares in the company, valued at $43,499,994.20. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 55.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of EchoStar from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. StockNews.com raised EchoStar to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 9th. Raymond James cut EchoStar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. TD Cowen cut their price target on EchoStar from $37.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on EchoStar from $14.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Two investment 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, EchoStar presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.25.

EchoStar Stock Up 1.0 %

SATS stock opened at $25.29 on Friday. EchoStar Co. has a one year low of $10.21 and a one year high of $30.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.76 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $24.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.67.

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.