StockNews.com Begins Coverage on EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS)

Equities research analysts at StockNews.com started coverage on shares of EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) in a note issued to investors on Saturday. The brokerage set a “buy” rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

Separately, Raymond James increased their target price on EchoStar from $28.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 9th.

EchoStar Stock Performance

SATS opened at $17.28 on Friday. EchoStar has a 52-week low of $14.66 and a 52-week high of $24.80. The company has a quick ratio of 6.02, a current ratio of 6.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company has a market cap of $1.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.90 and a beta of 0.77. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $19.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.08.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 8th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.16. EchoStar had a return on equity of 3.78% and a net margin of 5.92%. The firm had revenue of $453.11 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $451.90 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that EchoStar will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of EchoStar

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SATS. Virginia Retirement Systems ET AL acquired a new position in EchoStar in the 2nd quarter valued at about $449,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its holdings in EchoStar by 55.8% during the second quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 19,171 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $332,000 after acquiring an additional 6,868 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its holdings in EchoStar by 3.9% in the second quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 201,696 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,497,000 after purchasing an additional 7,505 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of EchoStar by 1.2% during the second quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 315,286 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,467,000 after acquiring an additional 3,814 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in EchoStar by 38.3% during the second quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 6,338 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $110,000 after buying an additional 1,755 shares during the period. 97.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

EchoStar Company Profile

EchoStar Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides networking technologies and services worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Hughes and EchoStar Satellite Services (ESS). The Hughes segment offers broadband network technologies, managed services, equipment, hardware, satellite services, and communications solutions to government and enterprise customers.