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

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday morning.

SATS has been the topic of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research note on Monday, April 20th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of EchoStar from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of 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 shares of EchoStar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, New Street Research initiated coverage on shares of EchoStar in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $161.00 price target on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, EchoStar has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $138.00.

EchoStar Stock Up 1.6%

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

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last released its 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 firm had revenue of $3.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.71) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that EchoStar will post -2.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at EchoStar

In other EchoStar news, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 71,005 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.52, for a total value of $7,634,457.60. Following the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO John Swieringa sold 50,088 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.58, for a total transaction of $5,688,995.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 253,535 shares in the company, valued at $28,796,505.30. This represents a 16.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 55.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On EchoStar

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of SATS. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 6.0% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 26,805 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $672,000 after acquiring an additional 1,511 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 4.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 72,482 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,854,000 after acquiring an additional 3,199 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 8.1% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 331,476 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $8,479,000 after acquiring an additional 24,749 shares during the period. Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of EchoStar in the first quarter valued at approximately $128,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 18.6% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 13,528 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $377,000 after acquiring an additional 2,119 shares during the period. 33.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About EchoStar

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.