EchoStar Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:SATS)

EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) was the target of some unusual options trading on Friday. Investors bought 30,431 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 26% compared to the average daily volume of 24,166 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SATS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Williams Trading set a $155.00 price target on EchoStar in a report on Monday, May 18th. Zacks Research cut EchoStar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. New Street Research assumed coverage on EchoStar in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $161.00 price target for the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded EchoStar from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, EchoStar presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $137.14.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in EchoStar by 4.1% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,089 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of EchoStar by 134.8% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 324 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. acquired a new position in shares of EchoStar during the first quarter worth about $34,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of EchoStar by 42.4% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,069,301 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $125,183,000 after buying an additional 318,248 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JTC Employer Solutions Trustee Ltd acquired a new position in shares of EchoStar during the first quarter worth about $39,000. 33.62% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

EchoStar Trading Down 7.9%

Shares of SATS traded down $9.88 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $114.76. 5,749,665 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,258,230. EchoStar has a 52-week low of $14.90 and a 52-week high of $147.25. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $125.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $112.75. The firm has a market cap of $33.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.30 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.17, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.30.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, May 9th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.51) EPS 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 firm had revenue of $3.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.71) earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that EchoStar will post -3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EchoStar Company Profile

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.