EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eight research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $137.7143.

Several analysts recently weighed in on SATS shares. New Street Research set a $165.00 target price on shares of EchoStar in a report on Monday, June 15th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded EchoStar from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Williams Trading set a $155.00 price objective on shares of EchoStar in a report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on EchoStar from $129.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th.

EchoStar Price Performance

SATS stock opened at $103.80 on Friday. EchoStar has a 52-week low of $24.15 and a 52-week high of $147.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.17. The stock has a market cap of $30.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.07 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a fifty day moving average of $114.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $116.96.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, May 9th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.51) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.48) by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $3.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.65 billion. EchoStar had a negative net margin of 97.56% and a negative return on equity of 4.80%. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.71) EPS.

Insider Buying and Selling at EchoStar

In related news, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 52,586 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.00, for a total transaction of $6,362,906.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 865,633 shares in the company, valued at $104,741,593. This represents a 5.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 55.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On EchoStar

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of SATS. Sachem Head Capital Management LP purchased a new position in EchoStar during the 4th quarter worth $568,218,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in EchoStar by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,524,576 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $382,595,000 after acquiring an additional 48,671 shares in the last quarter. Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd lifted its holdings in EchoStar by 68.6% in the fourth quarter. Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd now owns 2,181,728 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $237,154,000 after acquiring an additional 887,611 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in EchoStar by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,767,338 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $192,110,000 after acquiring an additional 22,900 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of EchoStar in the fourth quarter valued at about $182,111,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 33.62% of the company’s stock.

About EchoStar

EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS) is a global provider of satellite communication solutions, offering a suite of broadband and video delivery services to consumer, enterprise and government customers. The company operates two principal business segments: Broadband and Video. Through its Broadband segment, EchoStar delivers high-speed satellite internet access, managed network services and ground infrastructure for residential, commercial and rural markets. Its Video segment provides satellite fleet operations, teleport facilities and capacity-leasing services to video distributors and content providers.

In the Broadband segment, EchoStar’s Hughes Network Systems division designs and manufactures satellite broadband equipment, including user terminals and gateways, and develops advanced network management technologies.