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

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased 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 & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 6,900 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $808,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in SATS. Ritholtz Wealth Management bought a new position in EchoStar during the 1st quarter worth about $298,000. OP Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of EchoStar in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,637,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 1,301.1% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 508,734 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $59,557,000 after purchasing an additional 472,424 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co lifted its position in shares of EchoStar by 0.4% in 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 period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in shares of EchoStar by 301.9% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 79,182 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $8,654,000 after purchasing an additional 59,482 shares during the period. 33.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at EchoStar

In other news, CEO Hamid Akhavan sold 52,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 865,633 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $104,741,593. This represents a 5.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 55.90% of the company’s stock.

EchoStar Stock Down 0.1%

NASDAQ:SATS opened at $103.80 on Monday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $119.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $117.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.17, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.30. EchoStar Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $24.15 and a fifty-two week high of $147.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.08 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.07 and a beta of 0.94.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, May 9th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.51) 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 firm had revenue of $3.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.71) EPS.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a report on Monday, April 20th. TD Cowen upped their target price on EchoStar from $129.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Williams Trading set a $155.00 target price on EchoStar in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Zacks Research downgraded EchoStar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded EchoStar from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $137.71.

About EchoStar

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.