EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) Shares Up 6.1% – Still a Buy?

EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS)’s stock price rose 6.1% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $26.29 and last traded at $26.73. Approximately 144,628 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 91% from the average daily volume of 1,548,263 shares. The stock had previously closed at $25.18.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. TD Cowen decreased their price target on EchoStar from $37.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of EchoStar in a research note on Monday, December 16th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $25.00 target price for the company. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of EchoStar from $15.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.75.

EchoStar Trading Down 1.5 %

The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $27.42 and a 200 day moving average of $25.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.85 and a beta of 0.65.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.63) by $1.87. The company had revenue of $3.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.93 billion. EchoStar had a negative return on equity of 0.64% and a negative net margin of 15.51%. As a group, equities analysts predict that EchoStar Co. will post -1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tiptree Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of EchoStar during the fourth quarter worth $3,073,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in EchoStar by 38.2% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 306,727 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $7,024,000 after purchasing an additional 84,829 shares in the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in EchoStar during the 4th quarter valued at $5,457,000. Woodline Partners LP purchased a new stake in EchoStar in the 4th quarter worth about $524,000. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new stake in EchoStar during the 4th quarter worth about $6,526,000. 33.62% of the stock is 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.