Mark J. Miller Sells 3,564 Shares of Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) Stock

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) EVP Mark J. Miller sold 3,564 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.21, for a total value of $32,824.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 350,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,226,732.71. This trade represents a 1.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Viasat Stock Down 7.0 %

Shares of VSAT stock opened at $8.50 on Thursday. Viasat, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $6.69 and a fifty-two week high of $29.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.09 billion, a PE ratio of -2.72 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.44. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.27.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.07) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.54) by ($0.53). Viasat had a negative return on equity of 7.58% and a negative net margin of 8.73%. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($6.16) EPS. Viasat’s quarterly revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Viasat, Inc. will post -2.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on VSAT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Viasat from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $29.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 31st. Barclays reduced their price target on Viasat from $24.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on Viasat from $28.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Bank of America dropped 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viasat currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.33.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viasat

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in Viasat by 1.6% during the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 37,800 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $480,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Viasat by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 16,455 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $209,000 after purchasing an additional 667 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in Viasat by 8.3% during the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 13,044 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $166,000 after buying an additional 997 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its position in Viasat by 63.7% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,623 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 1,021 shares during the period. Finally, IMA Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in Viasat by 3.1% in the second quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. now owns 40,775 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $518,000 after buying an additional 1,223 shares in the last quarter. 86.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.