EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) Stock Price Up 3.9% – Time to Buy?

EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS)’s share price rose 3.9% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $142.73 and last traded at $141.80. Approximately 5,448,059 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 11% from the average daily volume of 6,110,440 shares. The stock had previously closed at $136.52.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SATS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Zacks Research downgraded EchoStar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. UBS Group lifted their target price on EchoStar from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Citigroup lifted their target price on EchoStar from $111.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on EchoStar from $129.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $137.14.

EchoStar Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $40.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.83 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $121.76 and a 200 day moving average of $108.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.17.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.51) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the prior year, the business posted ($0.71) EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that EchoStar Corporation will post -2.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other EchoStar news, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 71,005 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.52, for a total transaction of $7,634,457.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 823,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $88,520,463.36. The trade was a 7.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO John Swieringa sold 50,088 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.58, for a total value of $5,688,995.04. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 253,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,796,505.30. The trade was a 16.50% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 55.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of EchoStar

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hollencrest Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of EchoStar during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators bought a new stake in shares of EchoStar during the third quarter worth about $28,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of EchoStar during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton bought a new stake in shares of EchoStar during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. bought a new stake in shares of EchoStar during the first quarter worth about $34,000. 33.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.