EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• EchoStar's stock price surged after Morgan Stanley raised its price target from $59.00 to $91.00, opening at $83.58, up from a previous close of $80.63.
• Multiple research firms have differing views on EchoStar, with a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $63.90 following recent upgrades.
• EchoStar reported earnings with a loss of ($1.06) per share, slightly beating expectations, and revenue declined by 5.8% compared to the previous year.

EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $59.00 to $91.00. The stock had previously closed at $80.63, but opened at $83.58. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. EchoStar shares last traded at $82.03, with a volume of 3,491,969 shares traded.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on SATS. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of EchoStar in a research note on Friday, August 29th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on EchoStar from $28.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $105.00 price target on EchoStar in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of EchoStar in a report on Wednesday, August 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $63.90.

Institutional Trading of EchoStar

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SATS. Amalgamated Bank grew its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 50.3% during the first quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 53,287 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $1,363,000 after purchasing an additional 17,830 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 4.7% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 391,985 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $10,027,000 after purchasing an additional 17,448 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 394.8% during the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 20,055 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $513,000 after purchasing an additional 16,002 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 8.7% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 270,025 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $6,907,000 after purchasing an additional 21,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama bought a new position in shares of EchoStar during the first quarter valued at approximately $3,762,000. 33.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

EchoStar Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $23.52 billion, a P/E ratio of -78.20 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $36.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

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

About EchoStar

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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