EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS) gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $23.57, but opened at $22.00. EchoStar shares last traded at $23.07, with a volume of 612,548 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SATS has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $12.00 target price on shares of EchoStar in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on EchoStar from $14.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of EchoStar from $37.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Raymond James downgraded EchoStar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded EchoStar to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $19.25.

EchoStar Trading Down 3.1 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $24.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.77. The stock has a market cap of $6.20 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.57 and a beta of 0.70.

Insider Activity

In other EchoStar news, Chairman Charles W. Ergen acquired 1,551,355 shares of EchoStar stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $28.04 per share, for a total transaction of $43,499,994.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,551,355 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,499,994.20. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 55.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SATS. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of EchoStar by 238.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,707,909 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $195,338,000 after buying an additional 9,661,167 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 1.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,776,238 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $118,546,000 after purchasing an additional 62,674 shares in the last quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP boosted its position in EchoStar by 44.8% during the 3rd quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 3,000,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $74,460,000 after acquiring an additional 927,695 shares during the period. Goldentree Asset Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 20.4% during the first quarter. Goldentree Asset Management LP now owns 2,505,475 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $35,703,000 after purchasing an additional 424,259 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of EchoStar by 51.5% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,243,761 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $39,961,000 after buying an additional 762,462 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.62% of the company’s stock.

EchoStar Company Profile

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.