EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) Trading Down 9.4% – Time to Sell?

EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS)’s share price dropped 9.4% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $128.10 and last traded at $128.44. Approximately 8,919,337 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 46% from the average daily volume of 6,127,863 shares. The stock had previously closed at $141.80.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SATS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. New Street Research initiated coverage on EchoStar in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $161.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Wall Street Zen raised EchoStar from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Citigroup increased their price objective on EchoStar from $111.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on EchoStar from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $137.14.

EchoStar Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.17, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The company has a market capitalization of $35.88 billion, a PE ratio of -2.48 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $123.04 and a 200 day moving average of $109.10.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last posted its earnings results on Saturday, May 9th. 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 net margin of 97.56% and a negative return on equity of 4.80%. The firm had revenue of $3.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.71) EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that EchoStar Corporation will post -2.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at EchoStar

In other EchoStar news, COO John Swieringa sold 50,088 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.58, for a total value of $5,688,995.04. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 253,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,796,505.30. This represents a 16.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 71,005 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 823,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $88,520,463.36. This represents a 7.94% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 55.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SATS. Hollencrest Capital Management bought a new position in EchoStar in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators bought a new position in EchoStar in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC bought a new position in EchoStar in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton bought a new position in EchoStar in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. bought a new position in EchoStar in the first quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors own 33.62% of the company’s stock.

EchoStar Company Profile

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.