EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Zacks Research

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) was downgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on SATS. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of EchoStar from $28.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 27th. Citigroup lifted their target price on EchoStar from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Wednesday, August 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $105.00 target price on EchoStar in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, EchoStar currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $75.60.

EchoStar Price Performance

Shares of EchoStar stock traded up $0.35 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $69.98. 2,871,797 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,625,886. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $74.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $44.00. EchoStar has a 12 month low of $14.90 and a 12 month high of $85.37. The stock has a market cap of $20.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -66.65 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.22.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($44.37) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $3.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.52) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that EchoStar will post -1.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at EchoStar

In other EchoStar news, COO John Swieringa sold 154,835 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 432 shares in the company, valued at $35,078.40. This trade represents a 99.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kathleen Q. Abernathy sold 16,754 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.35, for a total transaction of $1,379,691.90. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 460,740 shares of company stock valued at $35,967,480. Company insiders own 55.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in shares of EchoStar by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 77,542 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $5,921,000 after buying an additional 4,247 shares during the last quarter. Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd bought a new position in shares of EchoStar in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $764,000. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of EchoStar during the 3rd quarter valued at $271,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in shares of EchoStar by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 10,293 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $786,000 after buying an additional 1,010 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tabor Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of EchoStar in the third quarter worth approximately $3,138,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 33.62% of the company’s stock.

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.