EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) Shares Gap Down - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• EchoStar's shares gapped down significantly from a previous close of $32.59 to open at $29.45, and are currently trading at $27.50.
• Citigroup revised its price objective for EchoStar from $27.00 to $28.50, maintaining a "neutral" rating amidst an average analyst rating of "Hold" with a price target of $24.70.
• In its latest quarterly report, EchoStar posted an earnings per share of (-$1.06), slightly beating expectations, but the company experienced a 5.8% year-over-year decline in quarterly revenue.

Shares of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS - Get Free Report) gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $32.59, but opened at $29.45. EchoStar shares last traded at $27.50, with a volume of 1,359,821 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Citigroup increased their price target on EchoStar from $27.00 to $28.50 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $24.70.

EchoStar Trading Down 2.2%

The firm has a market cap of $7.57 billion, a P/E ratio of -25.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.26. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.50.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.06) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.12) by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.80 billion. EchoStar had a negative return on equity of 1.58% and a negative net margin of 2.04%. EchoStar's revenue for the quarter was down 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.76) EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that EchoStar Corporation will post -1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On EchoStar

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of SATS. Darsana Capital Partners LP grew its position in shares of EchoStar by 133.3% in the 4th quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 7,000,000 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $160,300,000 after buying an additional 4,000,000 shares during the last quarter. Diameter Capital Partners LP grew its position in shares of EchoStar by 523.7% in the 4th quarter. Diameter Capital Partners LP now owns 5,026,823 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $115,114,000 after buying an additional 4,220,853 shares during the last quarter. Pennant Investors LP grew its position in shares of EchoStar by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Pennant Investors LP now owns 2,417,837 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $55,368,000 after buying an additional 97,000 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of EchoStar by 26.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,301,367 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $52,701,000 after buying an additional 474,313 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of EchoStar by 25.3% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,699,986 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $43,486,000 after buying an additional 343,590 shares during the last quarter. 33.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.