Swiss National Bank Increases Stake in Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT)

Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) by 10.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 175,924 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,200 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Viasat were worth $1,497,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VSAT. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Viasat by 75.3% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,950 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 1,267 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI bought a new stake in Viasat during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Viasat during the third quarter worth $28,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Viasat in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC grew its position in shares of Viasat by 39.0% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 4,473 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,255 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

Viasat Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VSAT opened at $10.92 on Friday. Viasat, Inc. has a one year low of $6.69 and a one year high of $26.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.80 and a quick ratio of 1.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.25 and a beta of 1.38. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $9.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.96.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.23) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.53) by ($0.70). Viasat had a negative net margin of 9.49% and a negative return on equity of 8.37%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Viasat, Inc. will post -0.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viasat news, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 3,750,000 shares of Viasat stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.00, for a total value of $33,750,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,795,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,158,006. The trade was a 43.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on VSAT shares. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 target price on shares of Viasat in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viasat from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on shares of Viasat in a research report on Friday, January 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $12.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Viasat from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viasat has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $14.57.

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.