Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) Shares Acquired by Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) by 98.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 36,068 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,923 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Viasat were worth $458,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Viasat in the 4th quarter worth approximately $17,511,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Viasat by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,532,375 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $226,711,000 after purchasing an additional 348,166 shares during the period. SageView Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in Viasat during the first quarter valued at $5,936,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Viasat during the second quarter worth $3,531,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Viasat by 25.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 796,368 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $10,114,000 after buying an additional 162,804 shares during the last quarter. 86.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on VSAT shares. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Viasat from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Viasat from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Viasat in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Bank of America cut 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Viasat from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $29.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.33.

Insider Activity

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 transaction of $55,947,695.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,545,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $170,052,146.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Viasat Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of VSAT stock opened at $12.77 on Friday. Viasat, Inc. has a 1 year low of $11.76 and a 1 year high of $29.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.61 billion, a PE ratio of -1.45 and a beta of 1.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $16.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 2.78 and a current ratio of 3.08.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.42) by $0.16. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. Viasat had a negative net margin of 22.13% and a negative return on equity of 19.76%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 41.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.83) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Viasat, Inc. will post -1.34 EPS for the current year.

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.