EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Shares of EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS) gapped down prior to trading on Thursday after TD Cowen lowered their price target on the stock from $37.00 to $30.00. The stock had previously closed at $21.52, but opened at $21.03. TD Cowen currently has a buy rating on the stock. EchoStar shares last traded at $21.77, with a volume of 201,604 shares changing hands.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. UBS Group lifted their target price on EchoStar from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on EchoStar from $14.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Raymond James lowered shares of EchoStar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $12.00 target price on shares of EchoStar in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of EchoStar to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, November 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.25.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On EchoStar

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Darsana Capital Partners LP purchased a new stake in EchoStar in the second quarter valued at $36,908,000. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its position in shares of EchoStar by 263.3% in the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 105,421 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,502,000 after purchasing an additional 76,407 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D purchased a new position in EchoStar during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,830,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd acquired a new position in EchoStar during the first quarter worth approximately $398,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in EchoStar by 238.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,707,909 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $195,338,000 after buying an additional 9,661,167 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 33.62% of the company’s stock.

EchoStar Price Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $24.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.35 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11.

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.