Zacks Research Downgrades Telesat (NASDAQ:TSAT) to Strong Sell

Telesat (NASDAQ:TSAT) was downgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Telesat in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on Telesat in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Scotiabank began coverage on Telesat in a report on Monday, July 13th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. New Street Research assumed coverage on shares of Telesat in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $30.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Telesat from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $33.50.

Telesat Stock Down 3.9%

Shares of NASDAQ TSAT opened at $44.30 on Wednesday. Telesat has a 52-week low of $19.65 and a 52-week high of $61.54. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $44.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.67. The company has a market capitalization of $657.41 million, a P/E ratio of -2.48 and a beta of 2.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a current ratio of 0.17.

Telesat (NASDAQ:TSAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 13th. The company reported ($7.85) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.71) by ($7.14). Telesat had a negative return on equity of 15.53% and a negative net margin of 102.62%.The business had revenue of $57.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $56.11 million. Equities analysts forecast that Telesat will post -11.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Telesat

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of TSAT. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its holdings in shares of Telesat by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 1,831,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,302,000 after purchasing an additional 44,785 shares in the last quarter. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. lifted its position in Telesat by 307.3% in the 3rd quarter. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. now owns 409,753 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,512,000 after buying an additional 309,153 shares during the last quarter. Vestcor Inc lifted its position in Telesat by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 200,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,820,000 after buying an additional 25,000 shares during the last quarter. Senvest Management LLC boosted its stake in Telesat by 2.2% in the first quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 137,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,984,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its position in Telesat by 245.4% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 128,472 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,739,000 after acquiring an additional 91,272 shares during the last quarter.

About Telesat

Telesat is a leading global satellite operator that designs, builds and delivers high-performance satellite communications solutions across multiple markets. The company operates a fleet of geostationary satellites to provide video distribution, data networking and managed broadband services to media companies, network operators, governments and enterprise customers. Telesat’s infrastructure supports television distribution, cellular backhaul, rural broadband and corporate network applications.

In addition to its geostationary offerings, Telesat is developing a low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation known as Lightspeed.