Benjamin Edward Palmer Sells 2,780 Shares of Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Stock

Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) insider Benjamin Edward Palmer sold 2,780 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.06, for a total transaction of $100,246.80. Following the transaction, the insider owned 27,831 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,003,585.86. This trade represents a 9.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Viasat Stock Down 1.0%

NASDAQ:VSAT opened at $34.92 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $34.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.22. The company has a market cap of $4.72 billion, a PE ratio of -7.56 and a beta of 1.23. Viasat Inc. has a twelve month low of $6.69 and a twelve month high of $43.59. The company has a current ratio of 2.11, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, November 8th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by $0.20. Viasat had a negative net margin of 13.11% and a negative return on equity of 6.37%. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.23) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Viasat Inc. will post -0.54 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VSAT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Viasat from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $50.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Viasat from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $23.00 price target (up from $10.00) on shares of Viasat in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Viasat from $25.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Viasat in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.75.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viasat

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VSAT. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its stake in Viasat by 29.8% in the 1st quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 274,250 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,858,000 after purchasing an additional 63,020 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viasat by 746.4% during the second quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 13,567 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $198,000 after buying an additional 11,964 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viasat by 11.4% during the first quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 16,673 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $174,000 after buying an additional 1,700 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Viasat by 6.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,646,644 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $152,618,000 after buying an additional 872,784 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of Viasat by 38.3% in the first quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 38,294 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $399,000 after buying an additional 10,600 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

Viasat Company 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.