EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the five brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $23.75.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on EchoStar from $15.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on EchoStar in a report on Monday, December 16th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $25.00 price objective for the company. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on EchoStar from $37.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded EchoStar to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, November 9th.

EchoStar Stock Performance

NASDAQ SATS opened at $26.90 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $24.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.99. EchoStar has a fifty-two week low of $11.83 and a fifty-two week high of $30.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.67. The company has a market cap of $7.31 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.94 and a beta of 0.70.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Charles W. Ergen acquired 1,551,355 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $28.04 per share, for a total transaction of $43,499,994.20. Following the purchase, the chairman now directly owns 1,551,355 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,499,994.20. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 55.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On EchoStar

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in EchoStar by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 21,589 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $536,000 after buying an additional 772 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in EchoStar by 54.7% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,231 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 789 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC increased its position in EchoStar by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 17,599 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $403,000 after buying an additional 1,198 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 9.8% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 21,790 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $541,000 after purchasing an additional 1,942 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 3.2% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 69,602 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,240,000 after purchasing an additional 2,176 shares during the period. 33.62% of the stock is currently 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.