EchoStar Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:SATS)

EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders bought 32,790 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 68% compared to the average daily volume of 19,479 call options.

Insider Activity

In other EchoStar news, COO John Swieringa sold 50,088 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 253,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,796,505.30. This represents a 16.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 71,005 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.52, for a total transaction of $7,634,457.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 823,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $88,520,463.36. The trade was a 7.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 55.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On EchoStar

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SATS. DLD Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of EchoStar during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,481,700,000. Sachem Head Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of EchoStar during the 4th quarter worth approximately $568,218,000. Icahn Carl C acquired a new stake in shares of EchoStar during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $332,513,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of EchoStar during the 4th quarter worth approximately $182,111,000. Finally, Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of EchoStar during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $98,819,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.62% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on SATS. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of EchoStar from $111.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Monday, April 20th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of EchoStar from $129.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Zacks Research lowered shares of EchoStar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, 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 research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $137.14.

EchoStar Stock Performance

Shares of EchoStar stock opened at $136.52 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.44 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.72 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.17. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $121.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $108.13. EchoStar has a 52 week low of $14.90 and a 52 week high of $147.25.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.51) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.48) by ($0.03). EchoStar had a negative return on equity of 4.80% and a negative net margin of 97.56%.The business had revenue of $3.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.71) EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that EchoStar will post -2.51 EPS for the current year.

About EchoStar

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.