Yousif Capital Management LLC Makes New Investment in EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS)

Yousif Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 11,784 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $195,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. New York State Teachers Retirement System acquired a new position in EchoStar during the 4th quarter valued at about $126,000. Quantbot Technologies LP increased its stake in shares of EchoStar by 150.2% during the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 9,439 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $158,000 after acquiring an additional 5,666 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. bought a new stake in EchoStar during the fourth quarter worth approximately $188,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in EchoStar during the third quarter worth approximately $231,000. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in EchoStar in the third quarter worth approximately $247,000. 33.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at EchoStar

In related news, Director James Defranco bought 110,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was bought at an average price of $13.48 per share, with a total value of $1,482,800.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 306,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,137,699.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 55.90% of the company’s stock.

EchoStar Stock Performance

Shares of SATS stock opened at $17.56 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.52 and a beta of 0.62. EchoStar Co. has a 1-year low of $9.53 and a 1-year high of $24.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $14.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.59.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $1.19. The company had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter. EchoStar had a positive return on equity of 5.24% and a negative net margin of 36.33%. The company’s revenue was up 732.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that EchoStar Co. will post -1.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on EchoStar from $11.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of EchoStar from $14.25 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of EchoStar from $39.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 4th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of EchoStar in a report on Saturday, April 13th. They set a “sell” rating for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $18.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.