Cpp Investment Board Private H Sells 3,750,000 Shares of Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) Stock

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 3,750,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was 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 approximately $43,158,006. This represents a 43.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Viasat Trading Down 20.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VSAT traded down $2.34 on Tuesday, reaching $8.83. 13,797,400 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,704,577. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.75. Viasat, Inc. has a 52 week low of $6.69 and a 52 week high of $26.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.63 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.23) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.53) by ($0.70). Viasat had a negative return on equity of 8.28% and a negative net margin of 9.49%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Viasat, Inc. will post -2.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Viasat

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Viasat by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,773,860 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $117,216,000 after buying an additional 194,006 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Viasat by 6.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,445,811 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $53,083,000 after purchasing an additional 276,376 shares during the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its position in shares of Viasat by 28.1% during the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 4,419,223 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $52,766,000 after acquiring an additional 969,942 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Viasat by 5.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,508,056 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,950,000 after acquiring an additional 122,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Viasat by 23.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,887,537 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $16,063,000 after acquiring an additional 364,072 shares in the last quarter. 86.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VSAT has been the subject of several research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on Viasat in a research note on Friday, January 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $12.00 target price for the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 target price on shares of Viasat in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Viasat from $26.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays dropped their target price on Viasat from $24.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Viasat in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viasat presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $15.43.

About Viasat

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.