EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the five ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $23.75.

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group upped their target price on EchoStar from $15.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on EchoStar in a research note on Monday, December 16th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $25.00 target price on the stock. TD Cowen lowered their target price on EchoStar from $37.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded EchoStar to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 9th.

EchoStar Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of SATS stock opened at $26.90 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $24.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.99. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $7.31 billion, a PE ratio of -2.94 and a beta of 0.70. EchoStar has a fifty-two week low of $11.83 and a fifty-two week high of $30.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Charles W. Ergen bought 1,551,355 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $28.04 per share, for a total transaction of $43,499,994.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,551,355 shares in the company, valued at $43,499,994.20. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 55.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On EchoStar

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in shares of EchoStar by 3.7% in the third 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 grew its stake in shares of EchoStar by 54.7% in the third 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 grew its stake in shares of EchoStar by 7.3% in the fourth 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 boosted its holdings in 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 boosted its holdings in 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 owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.