EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) Reaches New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday after TD Cowen raised their price target on the stock from $100.00 to $158.00. TD Cowen currently has a buy rating on the stock. EchoStar traded as high as $119.00 and last traded at $117.68, with a volume of 2024348 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $112.16.

SATS has been the topic of several other reports. UBS Group raised their target price on EchoStar from $28.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on EchoStar from $97.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Williams Trading set a $158.00 price target on EchoStar in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of EchoStar from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $82.00 to $110.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.17.

Insider Transactions at EchoStar

In related news, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 285,832 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.33, for a total transaction of $30,106,684.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 376,805 shares in the company, valued at $39,688,870.65. The trade was a 43.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO John Swieringa sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.34, for a total value of $1,481,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 283,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,091,496.06. This represents a 7.20% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 55.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators bought a new stake in EchoStar in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton acquired a new stake in shares of EchoStar during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in EchoStar in the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in EchoStar by 79.1% in the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 838 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in EchoStar by 593.2% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 922 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 789 shares during the period. 33.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

EchoStar Stock Up 4.6%

The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.61. The company has a market capitalization of $33.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.62 and a beta of 1.02.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($44.37) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.23) by ($43.14). EchoStar had a negative net margin of 85.36% and a positive return on equity of 0.39%. The company 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 firm earned ($0.52) EPS. EchoStar’s quarterly revenue was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that EchoStar Corporation will post -1.99 EPS for the current year.

EchoStar Company Profile

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.