Insider Selling: Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) SVP Sells $181,104.00 in Stock

Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) SVP Benjamin Edward Palmer sold 2,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.46, for a total value of $181,104.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 21,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,596,658.14. This represents a 10.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Viasat Stock Performance

NASDAQ VSAT opened at $80.38 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $72.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.71. The company has a market capitalization of $11.07 billion, a P/E ratio of -334.92 and a beta of 1.72. Viasat Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.95 and a 1-year high of $93.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 2.19.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by ($0.34). The firm had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion. Viasat had a positive return on equity of 1.44% and a negative net margin of 0.64%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.02) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Viasat Inc. will post -0.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Viasat in a research report on Monday, June 29th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $140.00 price objective on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and set a $97.00 target price on shares of Viasat in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Barclays set a $49.00 price target on shares of Viasat in a report on Friday, May 29th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Viasat in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, New Street Research began coverage on Viasat in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $100.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.78.

Institutional Trading of Viasat

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Viasat in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,863,374,000. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its stake in shares of Viasat by 15.8% during the 2nd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 5,845,100 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $85,338,000 after purchasing an additional 796,349 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Viasat by 18.2% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,789,539 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $219,346,000 after buying an additional 738,656 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viasat by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,328,854 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $115,266,000 after buying an additional 273,369 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Viasat by 2,821.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,222,981 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $111,065,000 after buying an additional 3,112,670 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

About Viasat

Viasat, Inc (NASDAQ: VSAT) provides high?capacity satellite broadband and wireless communications services to consumer, commercial and government customers worldwide. The company designs and operates satellite systems and network infrastructure to deliver secure, high-speed connectivity across remote and underserved regions, as well as managed networking solutions for enterprises and public sector agencies.

Viasat’s product offerings include residential and enterprise satellite internet services, in-flight connectivity for commercial airlines and business jets, and secure networking platforms tailored to defense and intelligence users.