Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $999,000 in EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 60,300 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $999,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.07% of EchoStar at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Swiss National Bank raised its position in shares of EchoStar by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 75,400 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,263,000 after acquiring an additional 1,700 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of EchoStar by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 52,341 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $877,000 after buying an additional 1,911 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its stake in shares of EchoStar by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 18,046 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $302,000 after buying an additional 2,261 shares during the period. Potomac Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of EchoStar by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Potomac Capital Management Inc. now owns 233,600 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $3,913,000 after buying an additional 4,286 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of EchoStar by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 178,405 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $2,988,000 after buying an additional 4,766 shares during the period. 33.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

EchoStar Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SATS traded up $0.14 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $16.02. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,608,791 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,383,174. EchoStar Co. has a 12-month low of $9.53 and a 12-month high of $24.80. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $13.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $13.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.35 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.27 and a beta of 0.69. 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 - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter. EchoStar had a negative net margin of 36.33% and a positive return on equity of 5.24%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 732.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that EchoStar Co. will post -1.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director James Defranco purchased 110,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were bought at an average price of $13.48 per share, with a total value of $1,482,800.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 306,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,137,699.48. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 55.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

EchoStar 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.