Caxton Associates LLP Purchases New Stake in EchoStar Corporation $SATS

Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new position in shares of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 5,553 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $650,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Sachem Head Capital Management LP acquired a new position in EchoStar during the fourth quarter worth about $568,218,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of EchoStar by 1.4% during the fourth 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 lifted its position in shares of EchoStar by 68.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 887,611 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in EchoStar by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,767,338 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $192,110,000 after acquiring an additional 22,900 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in EchoStar in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $182,111,000. 33.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

EchoStar Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SATS opened at $103.80 on Tuesday. EchoStar Corporation has a 12 month low of $24.15 and a 12 month high of $147.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.17. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $112.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $116.83. The company has a market cap of $30.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.07 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 52,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.00, for a total transaction of $6,362,906.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 865,633 shares in the company, valued at approximately $104,741,593. This represents a 5.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 55.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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