EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) Now Covered by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) in a report issued on Monday. The brokerage issued an equal weight rating and a $25.00 target price on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on SATS. StockNews.com raised shares of EchoStar to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, November 9th. Raymond James cut shares of EchoStar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of EchoStar from $37.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.50.

EchoStar Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SATS opened at $22.25 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.66. EchoStar has a one year low of $11.83 and a one year 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 stock has a market capitalization of $6.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.43 and a beta of 0.69.

Insider Transactions at EchoStar

In other news, Chairman Charles W. Ergen purchased 1,551,355 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $28.04 per share, for a total transaction of $43,499,994.20. Following the completion of the purchase, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 55.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SATS. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in EchoStar by 122.9% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,199 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $75,000 after buying an additional 2,315 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its position in EchoStar by 1.8% during the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 60,700 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,081,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in EchoStar by 3.0% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,001,832 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $17,843,000 after buying an additional 29,577 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in EchoStar by 24.4% during the second quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 19,848 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $353,000 after buying an additional 3,893 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in EchoStar by 0.6% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 390,077 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $6,947,000 after buying an additional 2,445 shares during the period. 33.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.