EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $43.14 EPS

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The communications equipment provider reported ($44.37) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.23) by ($43.14), Briefing.com reports. EchoStar had a negative return on equity of 1.58% and a negative net margin of 2.04%.The firm had revenue of $3.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.75 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.52) EPS. The company’s revenue was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year.

EchoStar Price Performance

NASDAQ SATS traded up $2.83 during trading on Friday, reaching $73.48. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,151,265 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,646,370. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $73.65 and a 200 day moving average of $42.82. EchoStar has a one year low of $14.90 and a one year high of $85.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.14 billion, a PE ratio of -69.98 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on SATS shares. Citigroup upgraded shares of EchoStar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of EchoStar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $105.00 target price on shares of EchoStar in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research note on Wednesday, August 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $75.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 233,918 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.35, for a total value of $17,625,721.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 376,805 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,392,256.75. This represents a 38.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO John Swieringa sold 154,835 shares of EchoStar 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 owned 432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,078.40. The trade was a 99.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 460,740 shares of company stock worth $35,967,480 over the last three months. Company insiders own 55.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its position in EchoStar by 4,766.6% during the second quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 290,875 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $8,057,000 after purchasing an additional 284,898 shares in the last quarter. Taconic Capital Advisors LP purchased a new position in shares of EchoStar in the 2nd quarter worth about $7,800,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of EchoStar by 30.1% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 913,292 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $25,298,000 after purchasing an additional 211,421 shares during the last quarter. Gilder Gagnon Howe & Co. LLC increased its position in shares of EchoStar by 148.1% during the 2nd quarter. Gilder Gagnon Howe & Co. LLC now owns 118,624 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,286,000 after purchasing an additional 70,803 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 8.1% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 331,476 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $8,479,000 after buying an additional 24,749 shares in the last quarter. 33.62% of the stock is currently 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.