1,500,000 Shares in EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS) Acquired by Monarch Alternative Capital LP

Monarch Alternative Capital LP acquired a new stake in EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,500,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $21,375,000. EchoStar accounts for about 9.5% of Monarch Alternative Capital LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Monarch Alternative Capital LP owned approximately 0.55% of EchoStar as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SATS. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC lifted its position in EchoStar by 183.6% in the 1st quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 2,269 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 1,469 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new stake in EchoStar during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in EchoStar during the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division purchased a new stake in EchoStar in the 1st quarter valued at $67,000. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System bought a new position in EchoStar during the 4th quarter valued at $126,000. Institutional investors own 33.62% of the company’s stock.

EchoStar Stock Performance

SATS stock traded down $0.68 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $19.63. The company had a trading volume of 548,991 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,864,393. EchoStar Co. has a 12 month low of $9.53 and a 12 month high of $24.80. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $18.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.93. The firm has a market cap of $5.33 billion, a PE ratio of -2.55 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.44.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.40) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.17) by ($0.23). EchoStar had a positive return on equity of 2.26% and a negative net margin of 23.47%. The company had revenue of $4.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.07 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that EchoStar Co. will post -1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SATS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of EchoStar from $14.25 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of EchoStar to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.00.

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.