EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS) Holdings Lifted by Citigroup Inc.

Citigroup Inc. lifted its stake in EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS) by 32.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 164,534 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 40,533 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc.’s holdings in EchoStar were worth $4,084,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of EchoStar in the 3rd quarter valued at $651,000. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of EchoStar by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 21,790 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $541,000 after purchasing an additional 1,942 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of EchoStar by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 324,416 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $8,052,000 after purchasing an additional 16,595 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of EchoStar by 11.0% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 46,767 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,161,000 after purchasing an additional 4,626 shares during the period. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of EchoStar in the 3rd quarter valued at $285,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.62% of the company’s stock.

EchoStar Stock Performance

SATS opened at $24.55 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.68 and a beta of 0.69. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $24.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. EchoStar Co. has a 12-month low of $10.91 and a 12-month high of $30.08.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised EchoStar to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 9th. Raymond James downgraded EchoStar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note 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 research note on Wednesday, November 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. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on EchoStar from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, EchoStar presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $19.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at EchoStar

In other EchoStar news, Chairman Charles W. Ergen bought 1,551,355 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $28.04 per share, with a total value of $43,499,994.20. Following the acquisition, the chairman now directly owns 1,551,355 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,499,994.20. This represents a ? increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 55.90% of the company’s stock.

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.