Morgan Stanley Trims EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) Target Price to $14.00

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) had its target price trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $14.25 to $14.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also commented on SATS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of EchoStar in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. They issued a neutral rating and a $18.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of EchoStar in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. They issued a buy rating on the stock. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of EchoStar from $39.00 to $38.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of EchoStar from $11.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $23.00.

EchoStar Stock Down 1.6 %

SATS stock opened at $13.30 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $13.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $13.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.61. EchoStar has a fifty-two week low of $9.53 and a fifty-two week high of $24.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.91 and a beta of 0.69.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $1.19. EchoStar had a negative net margin of 36.33% and a positive return on equity of 5.24%. The firm had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.59 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 732.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that EchoStar will post -1.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director James Defranco purchased 110,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $13.48 per share, with a total value of $1,482,800.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 306,951 shares in the company, valued at $4,137,699.48. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 55.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On EchoStar

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SATS. Pennant Select LLC acquired a new stake in shares of EchoStar during the fourth quarter worth $36,892,000. Beryl Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in EchoStar in the third quarter worth $36,090,000. Pennant Investors LP purchased a new position in EchoStar in the fourth quarter worth $35,679,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in EchoStar by 4,541.5% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 639,094 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $10,590,000 after acquiring an additional 625,325 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd purchased a new position in EchoStar in the third quarter worth $10,155,000. 33.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.