Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) Stock Position Increased by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) by 264.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 104,708 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 75,997 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Viasat were worth $891,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. National Bank of Canada FI bought a new stake in Viasat in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in Viasat in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Viasat by 63.7% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,623 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,021 shares during the last quarter. Caitlin John LLC lifted its position in Viasat by 274.4% in the 4th quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 10,259 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 7,519 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Viasat by 88.0% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 10,950 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $131,000 after purchasing an additional 5,126 shares during the last quarter. 86.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective on shares of Viasat in a research report on Monday, February 10th. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Viasat in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Viasat from $24.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. StockNews.com raised shares of Viasat from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on shares of Viasat in a research note on Friday, January 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $12.00 target price on the stock. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $15.43.

Viasat Stock Performance

Shares of VSAT opened at $9.00 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $9.34 and its 200-day moving average is $11.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.68 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.80 and a quick ratio of 1.60. Viasat, Inc. has a 12-month low of $6.69 and a 12-month high of $26.70.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.23) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.53) by ($0.70). Viasat had a negative return on equity of 8.37% and a negative net margin of 9.49%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Viasat, Inc. will post -0.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Viasat

In other news, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 3,750,000 shares of Viasat stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.00, for a total value of $33,750,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,795,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,158,006. This trade represents a 43.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Mark J. Miller sold 3,564 shares of Viasat stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.21, for a total transaction of $32,824.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 350,351 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,226,732.71. This trade represents a 1.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Viasat Profile

Viasat, Inc provides broadband and communications products and services worldwide. The company's Satellite Services segment offers satellite-based fixed broadband services, including broadband internet access and voice over internet protocol services to consumers and businesses; in-flight entertainment and aviation software services to commercial airlines and private business jets; satellite-based connectivity services; mobile broadband services, including satellite-based internet services to energy offshore vessels, cruise ships, consumer ferries, and yachts; and energy services, which include ultra-secure solutions IP connectivity, bandwidth-optimized over-the-top applications, industrial internet-of-things big data enablement, and industry-leading machine learning analytics.