Quantbot Technologies LP Buys New Holdings in Viasat Inc. $VSAT

Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 210,024 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,066,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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. Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Viasat by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 5,541,636 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $80,908,000 after acquiring an additional 351,404 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in Viasat by 64.9% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,866,242 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,866,000 after acquiring an additional 1,128,338 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Viasat by 96.8% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,680,387 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $39,134,000 after purchasing an additional 1,318,524 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Viasat by 26.4% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,384,942 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $24,851,000 after purchasing an additional 497,405 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Viasat from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $50.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viasat in a report on Wednesday, August 27th. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $23.00 price target (up previously from $10.00) on shares of Viasat in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Viasat in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Viasat from $25.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.75.

Insider Activity at Viasat

In related news, insider Benjamin Edward Palmer sold 2,780 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.06, for a total transaction of $100,246.80. Following the sale, the insider owned 27,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,003,585.86. This represents a 9.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Richard A. Baldridge sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.00, for a total value of $3,100,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 197,161 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,111,991. This trade represents a 33.65% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 105,049 shares of company stock worth $3,281,046. Company insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Viasat Trading Up 2.5%

VSAT stock opened at $35.14 on Friday. Viasat Inc. has a 52 week low of $7.36 and a 52 week high of $43.59. The company has a market capitalization of $4.75 billion, a PE ratio of -8.79 and a beta of 1.37. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 2.08.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, November 8th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11) by $0.20. Viasat had a negative net margin of 11.40% and a negative return on equity of 3.65%. The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.23) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Viasat Inc. will post -0.54 earnings per share for the current year.

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.