Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) Stake Boosted by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its stake in Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) by 7.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 40,800 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Viasat were worth $487,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in Viasat by 63.6% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 644,155 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $8,181,000 after purchasing an additional 250,389 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Viasat by 1,145.1% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 816,478 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $10,369,000 after purchasing an additional 750,904 shares in the last quarter. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Viasat by 40.4% in the 3rd quarter. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC now owns 191,304 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,284,000 after purchasing an additional 55,000 shares in the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new position in Viasat in the 2nd quarter worth about $509,000. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its stake in Viasat by 1,752.3% in the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 159,355 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,883,000 after purchasing an additional 150,752 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 2,811,442 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.90, for a total value of $55,947,695.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,545,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $170,052,146.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Viasat Stock Up 3.2 %

Shares of Viasat stock opened at $10.50 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.29 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 3.08 and a quick ratio of 2.78. Viasat, Inc. has a 52-week low of $9.37 and a 52-week high of $29.11. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $15.02.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.26) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.42) by $0.16. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. Viasat had a negative return on equity of 19.76% and a negative net margin of 22.13%. The firm’s revenue was up 41.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.83) EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Viasat, Inc. will post -1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Viasat from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $29.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on Viasat from $28.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. StockNews.com cut Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 31st. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on Viasat from $31.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viasat presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.83.

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.