Renaissance Technologies LLC Takes Position in EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS)

Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 233,648 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $5,351,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned 0.09% of EchoStar at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SATS. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in EchoStar by 26.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,301,367 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $52,701,000 after purchasing an additional 474,313 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd increased its position in shares of EchoStar by 139.9% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 601,250 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $13,769,000 after acquiring an additional 350,650 shares in the last quarter. Atika Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in EchoStar in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,336,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in EchoStar by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,019,809 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $23,354,000 after acquiring an additional 133,819 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in EchoStar in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,033,000. 33.62% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

EchoStar Stock Performance

Shares of SATS traded up $0.66 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $21.97. 1,831,734 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,738,375. EchoStar Co. has a 1 year low of $14.40 and a 1 year high of $32.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.67. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $25.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.29. The stock has a market cap of $6.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.40 and a beta of 0.72.

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.63) by $1.87. The firm had revenue of $3.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.93 billion. EchoStar had a negative return on equity of 0.64% and a negative net margin of 15.51%. Equities analysts anticipate that EchoStar Co. will post -1.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, UBS Group lifted their target price on EchoStar from $15.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $23.75.

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.