EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS) Short Interest Up 51.6% in August

EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,910,000 shares, a growth of 51.6% from the August 15th total of 1,260,000 shares. Currently, 5.7% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 472,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.0 days.

EchoStar Price Performance

SATS traded down $0.63 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $18.78. 616,582 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 444,679. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.01 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 6.02, a current ratio of 6.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. EchoStar has a one year low of $14.66 and a one year high of $24.80. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.03.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 8th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.16. EchoStar had a net margin of 5.92% and a return on equity of 3.78%. The firm had revenue of $453.11 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $451.90 million. As a group, research analysts predict that EchoStar will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On EchoStar

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of SATS. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in EchoStar by 13.6% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,444,060 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $77,060,000 after acquiring an additional 531,537 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in EchoStar by 8.4% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,366,819 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $43,289,000 after acquiring an additional 182,601 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in EchoStar by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,457,293 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,471,000 after acquiring an additional 87,293 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of EchoStar by 38.5% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,142,117 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $19,051,000 after acquiring an additional 317,417 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in EchoStar by 11.2% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,071,225 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $26,074,000 after acquiring an additional 107,947 shares during the last quarter. 97.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on SATS shares. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of EchoStar from $28.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 9th. StockNews.com began coverage on EchoStar in a research note on Sunday, September 10th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company.

About EchoStar

EchoStar Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides networking technologies and services worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Hughes and EchoStar Satellite Services (ESS). The Hughes segment offers broadband network technologies, managed services, equipment, hardware, satellite services, and communications solutions to government and enterprise customers.