60,300 Shares in EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS) Acquired by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 60,300 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $999,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System owned 0.07% of EchoStar at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SATS. Denali Advisors LLC purchased a new position in EchoStar during the third quarter worth $523,000. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in EchoStar by 24.9% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 130,933 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,193,000 after buying an additional 26,120 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in EchoStar by 2.7% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 178,405 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,988,000 after buying an additional 4,766 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio purchased a new position in EchoStar during the third quarter worth $247,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in EchoStar during the third quarter worth $231,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.62% of the company’s stock.

EchoStar Trading Up 3.8 %

Shares of SATS opened at $15.88 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $13.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.46. The stock has a market cap of $4.31 billion, a PE ratio of -2.28 and a beta of 0.69. EchoStar Co. has a 12 month low of $9.53 and a 12 month high of $24.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.53.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $1.19. EchoStar had a positive return on equity of 5.24% and a negative net margin of 36.33%. The company had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 732.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that EchoStar Co. will post -1.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on SATS. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on EchoStar from $14.25 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. StockNews.com initiated coverage on EchoStar in a research report on Saturday, April 13th. They issued a “sell” rating for the company. UBS Group lifted their target price on EchoStar from $11.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on EchoStar from $39.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on EchoStar in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $18.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, EchoStar has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $23.00.

Insider Transactions at EchoStar

In other EchoStar news, Director James Defranco bought 70,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $13.14 per share, with a total value of $919,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 176,951 shares in the company, valued at $2,325,136.14. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 55.90% of the company’s stock.

EchoStar Company Profile

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.