EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) Price Target Raised to $87.00 at Citigroup

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) had its price target boosted by Citigroup from $85.00 to $87.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Citigroup’s price objective points to a potential upside of 22.03% from the stock’s previous close.

SATS has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Wednesday, August 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research raised shares of EchoStar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of EchoStar from $28.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 27th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $105.00 price objective on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, EchoStar currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $75.60.

EchoStar Stock Performance

NASDAQ:SATS traded down $2.45 on Tuesday, hitting $71.30. The stock had a trading volume of 1,345,528 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,630,348. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $73.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.48. EchoStar has a 52-week low of $14.90 and a 52-week high of $85.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The stock has a market cap of $20.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -68.06 and a beta of 0.94.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($44.37) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.23) by ($43.14). EchoStar had a negative net margin of 2.04% and a negative return on equity of 1.58%. The business had revenue of $3.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.52) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that EchoStar will post -1.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at EchoStar

In related news, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 233,918 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.35, for a total transaction of $17,625,721.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 376,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,392,256.75. This represents a 38.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO John Swieringa sold 154,835 shares of the firm’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 value of $12,572,602.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,078.40. This represents a 99.72% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 460,740 shares of company stock valued at $35,967,480 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 55.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On EchoStar

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators bought a new position in shares of EchoStar during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in EchoStar by 79.1% during the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 838 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of EchoStar by 593.2% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 922 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 789 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of EchoStar in the 2nd quarter worth about $73,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its stake in shares of EchoStar by 70,980.0% during the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 3,554 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $91,000 after purchasing an additional 3,549 shares during the period. 33.62% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.