EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) in a report issued on Monday. The firm issued a buy rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

Separately, Raymond James increased their price target on shares of EchoStar from $28.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a report on Wednesday, August 9th.

EchoStar Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of EchoStar stock opened at $18.34 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $1.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.69 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 6.02 and a current ratio of 6.02. EchoStar has a one year low of $14.66 and a one year high of $24.80. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $19.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.00.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 8th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $453.11 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $451.90 million. EchoStar had a net margin of 5.92% and a return on equity of 3.78%. On average, analysts forecast that EchoStar will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On EchoStar

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SATS. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of EchoStar by 13.6% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,444,060 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $77,060,000 after purchasing an additional 531,537 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of EchoStar by 8.4% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,366,819 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $43,289,000 after acquiring an additional 182,601 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of EchoStar by 6.4% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,457,293 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $35,471,000 after acquiring an additional 87,293 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of EchoStar by 38.5% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,142,117 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $19,051,000 after acquiring an additional 317,417 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of EchoStar by 11.2% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,071,225 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $26,074,000 after acquiring an additional 107,947 shares during the last quarter. 97.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About EchoStar

EchoStar Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides networking technologies and services worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Hughes and EchoStar Satellite Services (ESS). The Hughes segment offers broadband network technologies, managed services, equipment, hardware, satellite services, and communications solutions to government and enterprise customers.