Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $808,000 in EchoStar Corporation $SATS

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 6,900 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $808,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Diversified Trust Co grew its position in EchoStar by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 22,845 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,674,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in EchoStar by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,933 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $536,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 5,618 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $611,000 after buying an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,800 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $196,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC lifted its stake in shares of EchoStar by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 30,118 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $3,274,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. 33.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. New Street Research set a $165.00 price objective on shares of EchoStar in a report on Monday, June 15th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research note on Monday, April 20th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on EchoStar from $129.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Zacks Research downgraded EchoStar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised EchoStar from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, EchoStar presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $137.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other EchoStar news, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 52,586 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.00, for a total transaction of $6,362,906.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 865,633 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $104,741,593. This trade represents a 5.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 55.90% of the company’s stock.

EchoStar Stock Down 0.1%

SATS stock opened at $103.80 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $119.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $117.25. The company has a market capitalization of $30.08 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.07 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.17, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.27. EchoStar Corporation has a 12 month low of $24.15 and a 12 month high of $147.25.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last issued its earnings results on Saturday, May 9th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.51) earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $3.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.65 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.71) EPS.

EchoStar 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.