Investors Purchase High Volume of EchoStar Call Options (NASDAQ:SATS)
by Doug Wharley · The Cerbat GemEchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS – Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Investors purchased 32,790 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 68% compared to the average volume of 19,479 call options.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several brokerages recently weighed in on SATS. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of EchoStar from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Zacks Research lowered shares of EchoStar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of EchoStar from $129.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of EchoStar from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Williams Trading set a $155.00 price objective on shares of EchoStar in a report on Monday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $137.14.
View Our Latest Analysis on EchoStar
Insider Buying and Selling
In other news, COO John Swieringa sold 50,088 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.58, for a total transaction of $5,688,995.04. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 253,535 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,796,505.30. This represents a 16.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 71,005 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.52, for a total transaction of $7,634,457.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 823,293 shares in the company, valued at $88,520,463.36. The trade was a 7.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 55.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On EchoStar
Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Junto Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of EchoStar during the third quarter worth $55,199,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. acquired a new position in EchoStar during the fourth quarter worth $28,994,000. Phoenix Financial Ltd. acquired a new position in EchoStar during the third quarter worth $780,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new position in EchoStar during the fourth quarter worth $20,459,000. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new position in EchoStar during the third quarter worth $1,508,000. Institutional investors own 33.62% of the company’s stock.
EchoStar Trading Down 0.6%
NASDAQ:SATS traded down $0.78 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $136.45. The stock had a trading volume of 8,947,675 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,140,902. EchoStar has a one year low of $14.90 and a one year high of $147.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.17, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.30. The company has a market cap of $39.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.72 and a beta of 0.95. The business’s 50 day moving average is $120.64 and its 200-day moving average is $107.25.
EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.51) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 previous year, the company posted ($0.71) EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that EchoStar will post -2.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.
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.