EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) Reaches New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $88.00 and last traded at $82.3080, with a volume of 19382654 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $74.50.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SATS. Zacks Research cut shares of EchoStar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on EchoStar from $59.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on EchoStar from $28.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 27th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of EchoStar in a report on Wednesday, August 27th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on EchoStar from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $75.60.

EchoStar Price Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average of $73.14 and a 200-day moving average of $49.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11. The stock has a market cap of $23.59 billion, a PE ratio of -1.83 and a beta of 1.03.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($44.37) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.23) by ($43.14). The firm had revenue of $3.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.75 billion. EchoStar had a negative net margin of 85.36% and a positive return on equity of 0.39%. The business’s revenue was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.52) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that EchoStar Corporation will post -1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at EchoStar

In related news, COO John Swieringa sold 154,835 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.20, for a total transaction of $12,572,602.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,078.40. This represents a 99.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kathleen Q. Abernathy sold 16,754 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.35, for a total transaction of $1,379,691.90. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 482,740 shares of company stock worth $37,448,960. 55.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of EchoStar

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SATS. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators acquired a new position in shares of EchoStar during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in EchoStar in the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in EchoStar by 79.1% in the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 838 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in EchoStar by 593.2% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 922 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 789 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of EchoStar during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $73,000. 33.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.