Quantbot Technologies LP Makes New Investment in EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS)

Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 15,436 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $383,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake 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 valued at $4,084,000 after buying an additional 40,533 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in EchoStar in the 3rd quarter valued at $651,000. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of EchoStar by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 21,790 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $541,000 after acquiring an additional 1,942 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 324,416 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $8,052,000 after purchasing an additional 16,595 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of EchoStar by 11.0% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 46,767 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,161,000 after purchasing an additional 4,626 shares during the period. 33.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on SATS shares. UBS Group upped their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $12.00 price objective on shares of EchoStar in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of EchoStar from $14.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Raymond James downgraded EchoStar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, StockNews.com raised EchoStar to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, November 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.25.

Insider Activity at EchoStar

In other EchoStar news, Chairman Charles W. Ergen acquired 1,551,355 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $28.04 per share, for a total transaction of $43,499,994.20. Following the acquisition, the chairman now directly owns 1,551,355 shares in the company, valued at $43,499,994.20. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 55.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

EchoStar Stock Performance

Shares of EchoStar stock opened at $24.55 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $24.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.68 and a beta of 0.69. EchoStar Co. has a fifty-two week low of $10.91 and a fifty-two week high of $30.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.61.

About EchoStar

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.