EchoStar Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:SATS)

EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Monday. Traders acquired 28,395 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 1,124% compared to the typical volume of 2,320 call options.

EchoStar Price Performance

NASDAQ SATS traded up $0.35 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $26.39. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 897,491 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,779,075. EchoStar has a 1 year low of $9.53 and a 1 year high of $27.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The company has a market capitalization of $7.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.53 and a beta of 0.70. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $20.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.65.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 9th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.76) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.37) by ($0.39). The company had revenue of $3.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.98 billion. EchoStar had a positive return on equity of 0.18% and a negative net margin of 18.65%. EchoStar’s quarterly revenue was down 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.39 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that EchoStar will post -1.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of EchoStar by 125.3% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,442 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 802 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in EchoStar by 694.8% during the second quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,677 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,466 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of EchoStar by 183.6% in the 1st quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 2,269 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 1,469 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of EchoStar in the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of EchoStar in the 4th quarter worth about $42,000. Institutional investors own 33.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on SATS shares. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of EchoStar from $14.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $12.00 target price on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Monday, August 12th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of EchoStar from $38.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of EchoStar to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of EchoStar from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, EchoStar has an average 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.