EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) Upgraded to "Hold" at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• EchoStar was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from “sell” to “hold”, adding to a mixed analyst picture that currently averages out to a Hold rating with a $138 average target price.
• The company recently reported Q1 earnings of -$0.51 per share, missing estimates, though revenue of $3.67 billion slightly beat expectations.
• Insider activity showed CEO Hamid Akhavan and COO John Swieringa both sold shares, while institutional investors made only modest position changes.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS - Get Free Report) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Citigroup boosted their price objective on EchoStar from $111.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Zacks Research lowered EchoStar from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on EchoStar from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. New Street Research began coverage on EchoStar in a research note on Wednesday. They set a "buy" rating and a $161.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of EchoStar in a research note on Monday, April 20th. 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $138.00.

EchoStar Stock Performance

NASDAQ SATS opened at $137.23 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.74 and a beta of 0.95. EchoStar has a twelve month low of $14.90 and a twelve month high of $139.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.17. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $120.64 and a 200 day moving average of $107.02.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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). EchoStar had a negative return on equity of 4.80% and a negative net margin of 97.56%.The business had revenue of $3.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.71) EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that EchoStar will post -2.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 71,005 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.52, for a total value of $7,634,457.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 823,293 shares in the company, valued at $88,520,463.36. This represents a 7.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO John Swieringa sold 50,088 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.58, for a total value of $5,688,995.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 253,535 shares of the company's stock, valued at $28,796,505.30. This trade represents a 16.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 55.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On EchoStar

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of EchoStar by 4.1% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,089 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $245,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co grew its position in shares of EchoStar by 0.4% in the first quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 22,845 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $2,674,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of EchoStar by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,933 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $536,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio grew its position in shares of EchoStar by 0.5% in the first quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 19,100 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $2,236,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in shares of EchoStar by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 5,618 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $611,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. 33.62% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.

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