EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS) Receives $19.25 Average Price Target from Brokerages

EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the five ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $19.25.

Several brokerages have weighed in on SATS. StockNews.com upgraded EchoStar to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, November 9th. Raymond James lowered EchoStar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. TD Cowen decreased their price target on EchoStar from $37.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $12.00 price objective on shares of EchoStar in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of EchoStar from $14.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th.

Insider Transactions at EchoStar

In related news, Chairman Charles W. Ergen acquired 1,551,355 shares of EchoStar stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were bought at an average price 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. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 55.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of EchoStar

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Darsana Capital Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of EchoStar in the second quarter valued at $36,908,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in EchoStar by 51.5% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,243,761 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $39,961,000 after buying an additional 762,462 shares in the last quarter. Stonehill Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in EchoStar in the 3rd quarter valued at about $9,235,000. Monarch Alternative Capital LP grew its stake in shares of EchoStar by 23.6% during the second quarter. Monarch Alternative Capital LP now owns 1,854,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $33,020,000 after acquiring an additional 354,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D purchased a new stake in shares of EchoStar during the second quarter worth about $1,830,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.62% of the company’s stock.

EchoStar Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SATS opened at $24.00 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The company has a market cap of $6.52 billion, a PE ratio of -2.62 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.37. EchoStar has a 12 month low of $11.32 and a 12 month high of $30.08.

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.