New York State Teachers Retirement System Trims Stock Holdings in Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT)

New York State Teachers Retirement System reduced its holdings in shares of Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 77,223 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,400 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.06% of Viasat worth $657,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its position in shares of Viasat by 7.9% during the third quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 40,800 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $487,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its holdings in Viasat by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 48,125 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $574,000 after acquiring an additional 3,978 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Viasat by 26.4% in the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 21,402 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 4,468 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Viasat by 35.2% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 28,711 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 7,477 shares during the period. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Viasat by 88.0% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 10,950 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $131,000 after purchasing an additional 5,126 shares in the last quarter. 86.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Viasat news, EVP Mark J. Miller sold 3,564 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.21, for a total transaction of $32,824.44. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 350,351 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,226,732.71. This represents a 1.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 3,750,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.00, for a total transaction of $33,750,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 4,795,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,158,006. This trade represents a 43.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on VSAT shares. StockNews.com upgraded Viasat from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 price target on shares of Viasat in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Viasat from $24.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Viasat from $26.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Viasat in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.43.

Viasat Price Performance

VSAT stock opened at $9.09 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.71 and a beta of 1.35. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $9.33 and its 200 day moving average is $11.10. Viasat, Inc. has a 52 week low of $6.69 and a 52 week high of $26.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 1.80.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last released its 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%. Research analysts predict that Viasat, Inc. will post -0.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Viasat Company Profile

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.