EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) Shares Gap Down After Earnings Miss

Shares of EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS) gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday after the company announced weaker than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $17.35, but opened at $15.28. EchoStar shares last traded at $15.27, with a volume of 1,045,246 shares changing hands.

The communications equipment provider reported ($0.40) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.17) by ($0.23). EchoStar had a positive return on equity of 5.24% and a negative net margin of 36.33%. The company had revenue of $4.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SATS. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of EchoStar from $11.00 to $14.00 and gave the company 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 issued a “neutral” rating and a $18.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of EchoStar in a report on Saturday, April 13th. They issued a “sell” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of EchoStar from $14.25 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of EchoStar from $39.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.00.

Insider Activity at EchoStar

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On EchoStar

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in EchoStar by 183.6% in the first quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 2,269 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 1,469 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in EchoStar by 2.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 75,400 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,263,000 after buying an additional 1,700 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in EchoStar by 3.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 52,341 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $877,000 after buying an additional 1,911 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lifted its stake in shares of EchoStar by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 18,046 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $302,000 after purchasing an additional 2,261 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of EchoStar by 10.6% in the 1st quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 25,295 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 2,431 shares during the last quarter. 33.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

EchoStar Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $14.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $13.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.24 billion, a PE ratio of -2.24 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.53.

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.