EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $73.65, but opened at $77.39. EchoStar shares last traded at $74.65, with a volume of 1,795,736 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SATS. TD Cowen upped their price target on EchoStar from $28.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 27th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on EchoStar from $59.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Wednesday, August 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $105.00 price objective on shares of EchoStar in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of EchoStar from $67.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.20.

EchoStar Stock Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average price is $49.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.68. The company has a market cap of $21.84 billion, a PE ratio of -72.29 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.06) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.12) by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.80 billion. EchoStar had a negative net margin of 2.04% and a negative return on equity of 1.58%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.76) EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that EchoStar Corporation will post -1.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO John Swieringa sold 154,835 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,078.40. This trade represents a 99.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Paul Gaske sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.32, for a total transaction of $58,740.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 460,740 shares of company stock valued at $35,967,480. 55.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of EchoStar

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in EchoStar by 8,125.0% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 987 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 975 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in EchoStar by 44.5% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,841 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 567 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in EchoStar in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $73,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of EchoStar by 39.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,441 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 976 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group grew its position in shares of EchoStar by 70,980.0% in the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 3,554 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $91,000 after purchasing an additional 3,549 shares in the last quarter. 33.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.