EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) Shares Gap Down - Here's Why

Key Points

• EchoStar shares gapped down from a previous close of $74.89 to an opening of $72.11 on Monday, with a last traded price of $73.10.
• Analysts have set a wide range of price targets for EchoStar, with Deutsche Bank's target at $105.00 and a consensus average target of $63.90.
• Insider trading reports show significant sell-offs, including COO Paul Gaske selling 45,000 shares at an average price of $80.25, indicating potential insider confidence issues.

EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS - Get Free Report) shares gapped down prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $74.89, but opened at $72.11. EchoStar shares last traded at $73.10, with a volume of 271,436 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SATS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $105.00 target price on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Wednesday, August 27th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of EchoStar from $59.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of EchoStar from $28.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 27th. Finally, Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating on shares of EchoStar in a report on Friday, August 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $63.90.

EchoStar Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $20.44 billion, a PE ratio of -67.71 and a beta of 0.99. The business's 50 day moving average price is $39.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $29.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.06) earnings per share (EPS) 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 analyst estimates of $3.80 billion. EchoStar had a negative net margin of 2.04% and a negative return on equity of 1.58%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.76) earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that EchoStar Corporation will post -1.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Paul Gaske sold 45,000 shares of EchoStar stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.25, for a total transaction of $3,611,250.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 1,593 shares in the company, valued at $127,838.25. This trade represents a 96.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kathleen Q. Abernathy sold 16,754 shares of EchoStar stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.35, for a total transaction of $1,379,691.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 216,589 shares of company stock worth $17,563,544 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 55.90% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On EchoStar

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 69,283 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $1,587,000 after acquiring an additional 2,712 shares during the period. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP acquired a new stake in EchoStar in the fourth quarter worth about $216,000. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in EchoStar by 44.5% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 36,670 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $840,000 after purchasing an additional 11,294 shares during the period. State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in EchoStar in the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Taconic Capital Advisors LP acquired a new stake in EchoStar in the fourth quarter worth about $572,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.

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