Citadel Investment Advisory Inc. Sells 1,698 Shares of EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS)

Citadel Investment Advisory Inc. lowered its stake in EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS) by 25.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,982 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,698 shares during the quarter. Citadel Investment Advisory Inc.’s holdings in EchoStar were worth $114,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 54.7% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,231 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 789 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of EchoStar by 65.1% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,684 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $153,000 after acquiring an additional 2,635 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of EchoStar in the third quarter valued at approximately $165,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of EchoStar in the third quarter worth $272,000. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in EchoStar during the third quarter worth $285,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.62% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SATS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of EchoStar in a research note on Monday, December 16th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $25.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group lifted their target price on EchoStar from $15.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com raised EchoStar to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 9th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price target on EchoStar from $37.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $23.75.

EchoStar Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:SATS opened at $27.66 on Friday. EchoStar Co. has a 52-week low of $11.83 and a 52-week high of $30.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.09.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Charles W. Ergen acquired 1,551,355 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were 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 directly owns 1,551,355 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,499,994.20. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 55.90% of the company’s stock.

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.