Insider Selling: Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) CAO Sells 2,810 Shares of Stock

Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) CAO Camellia Fitzgerald sold 2,810 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total value of $134,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $477,408. This represents a 22.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Viasat Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VSAT traded down $1.06 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $45.17. The company had a trading volume of 2,137,029 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,847,571. The stock has a market cap of $6.11 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.29 and a beta of 1.39. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $37.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.32. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. Viasat Inc. has a 52-week low of $7.36 and a 52-week high of $49.68.

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

Institutional Trading of Viasat

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of Viasat by 483.2% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 109,448 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,140,000 after acquiring an additional 90,680 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Viasat by 189.7% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 452,933 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,692,000 after acquiring an additional 296,612 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Viasat by 673.7% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,386,089 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $14,443,000 after purchasing an additional 1,206,935 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $29,866,000 after purchasing an additional 1,128,338 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Viasat by 6.9% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 226,184 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,357,000 after purchasing an additional 14,575 shares in the last quarter. 86.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on VSAT. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Viasat in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Viasat in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley set a $51.00 price objective on Viasat in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Viasat in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised Viasat from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.29.

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.