Analysts Set EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS) PT at $23.00

EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the six research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $23.00.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SATS. StockNews.com assumed coverage on EchoStar in a research report on Saturday, April 13th. They set a “sell” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on EchoStar in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $18.00 target price on the stock. TD Cowen dropped their target price on EchoStar from $39.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on EchoStar from $14.25 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of EchoStar from $11.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director James Defranco acquired 70,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $13.14 per share, with a total value of $919,800.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 176,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,325,136.14. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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 company. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 2.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 75,400 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,263,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in EchoStar by 3.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 52,341 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $877,000 after acquiring an additional 1,911 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its holdings in EchoStar by 14.3% in the third quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 18,046 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $302,000 after acquiring an additional 2,261 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in EchoStar during the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in EchoStar in the 4th quarter worth $42,000. 33.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

EchoStar Stock Performance

Shares of EchoStar stock opened at $16.00 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $13.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.50. The company has a market cap of $4.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.30 and a beta of 0.69. EchoStar has a 12-month low of $9.53 and a 12-month high of $24.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $1.19. The business had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter. EchoStar had a negative net margin of 36.33% and a positive return on equity of 5.24%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 732.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.59 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that EchoStar will post -1.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.