Insider Selling: Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Insider Sells 2,780 Shares of Stock

Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) insider Benjamin Edward Palmer sold 2,780 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 27,831 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,003,585.86. This represents a 9.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Viasat Price Performance

Viasat stock traded up $1.91 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $35.27. The company had a trading volume of 1,736,034 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,473,156. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.95. Viasat Inc. has a 1 year low of $6.69 and a 1 year high of $43.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 2.11 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The company has a market capitalization of $4.77 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.63 and a beta of 1.24.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, November 8th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11) by $0.20. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.15 billion. Viasat had a negative return on equity of 6.37% and a negative net margin of 13.11%.The company’s revenue was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.23) EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Viasat Inc. will post -0.54 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on VSAT. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $23.00 price target (up previously from $10.00) on shares of Viasat in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Viasat from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of Viasat from $25.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Viasat in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Viasat has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.75.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viasat

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Viasat by 15.9% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,387 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Viasat by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 19,145 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $561,000 after purchasing an additional 361 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Viasat by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 18,989 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $556,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares during the period. Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych PZU SA boosted its holdings in shares of Viasat by 22.6% during the third quarter. Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych PZU SA now owns 3,250 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $95,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System grew its position in shares of Viasat by 2.4% in the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 30,838 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $904,000 after purchasing an additional 710 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

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.