EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) Research Coverage Started at StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) in a report released on Saturday. The firm issued a sell rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on SATS. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of EchoStar from $11.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of EchoStar in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. They set a neutral rating and a $18.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of EchoStar from $14.25 to $14.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of EchoStar from $39.00 to $38.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $23.00.

EchoStar Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SATS opened at $13.88 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.77 billion, a PE ratio of -1.99 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. EchoStar has a 1-year low of $9.53 and a 1-year high of $24.80. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $13.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.47.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $1.19. The firm had revenue of $4.16 billion during the quarter. EchoStar had a negative net margin of 36.33% and a positive return on equity of 5.24%. EchoStar’s revenue for the quarter was up 732.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.59 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that EchoStar will post -1.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at EchoStar

In other EchoStar news, Director James Defranco bought 70,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $13.14 per share, with a total value of $919,800.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 176,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,325,136.14. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 55.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of EchoStar

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SATS. Pennant Select LLC acquired a new stake in shares of EchoStar during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,892,000. Beryl Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of EchoStar during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,090,000. Pennant Investors LP acquired a new stake in shares of EchoStar during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,679,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of EchoStar by 4,541.5% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 639,094 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $10,590,000 after acquiring an additional 625,325 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd acquired a new stake in EchoStar in the third quarter valued at approximately $10,155,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.62% 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.