DISH Network Co. (NASDAQ:DISH) Shares Purchased by Arizona State Retirement System

Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in DISH Network Co. (NASDAQ:DISH – Get Rating) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 70,223 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,179 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in DISH Network were worth $986,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of DISH. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in shares of DISH Network by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 129,612 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,819,000 after acquiring an additional 10,426 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in DISH Network by 17.5% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 179,013 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,524,000 after buying an additional 26,622 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of DISH Network by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 17,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares during the period. Westpac Banking Corp increased its stake in shares of DISH Network by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 18,940 shares of the company’s stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 2,500 shares during the period. Finally, Ellevest Inc. increased its stake in shares of DISH Network by 141.1% in the fourth quarter. Ellevest Inc. now owns 4,405 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 2,578 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on DISH Network from $17.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of DISH Network in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a “sell” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of DISH Network from $18.00 to $16.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 9th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of DISH Network from $33.00 to $18.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of DISH Network from $20.00 to $15.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $24.86.

DISH Network Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ DISH opened at $6.16 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.28 billion, a PE ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. DISH Network Co. has a 1-year low of $5.94 and a 1-year high of $23.49. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $8.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.38.

DISH Network (NASDAQ:DISH – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 8th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.01). DISH Network had a return on equity of 13.66% and a net margin of 13.81%. The business had revenue of $3.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.06 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.68 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that DISH Network Co. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at DISH Network

In related news, Director James Defranco purchased 1,450,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $10.84 per share, with a total value of $15,718,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,567,658 shares in the company, valued at $38,673,412.72. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders bought 2,100,000 shares of company stock worth $22,877,000. Insiders own 55.50% of the company’s stock.

DISH Network Profile

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DISH Network Corp. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of pay-tv services. It operates through the Pay-TV and Wireless segments. The Pay-TV segment operates under the DISH brand and Sling brand. The Wireless segment refers to the wireless spectrum licenses and related assets. The company was founded by Charles William Ergen, Cantey M.