Swiss National Bank Has $1.50 Million Stake in Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT)

Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) by 10.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 175,924 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,200 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.14% of Viasat worth $1,497,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in Viasat by 6.1% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 66,227 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $791,000 after purchasing an additional 3,807 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Viasat in the third quarter valued at about $322,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Viasat by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,523,465 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $18,190,000 after acquiring an additional 115,909 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC lifted its holdings in Viasat by 361.3% during the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 77,880 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $930,000 after purchasing an additional 60,998 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of Viasat by 2.6% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 63,656 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $760,000 after buying an additional 1,584 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 3,750,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,795,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,158,006. This represents a 43.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Viasat Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VSAT opened at $10.92 on Friday. Viasat, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $6.69 and a fifty-two 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. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.96. The stock has a market cap of $1.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.25 and a beta of 1.38.

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%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Viasat, Inc. will post -0.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on VSAT shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 target price on shares of Viasat in a report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com raised Viasat from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Viasat from $26.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on Viasat in a report on Friday, January 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $12.00 target price for the company. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $14.57.

Viasat 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.