Quest Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 2,281 Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT)

Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,281 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $29,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in VSAT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Viasat by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,532,375 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $226,711,000 after purchasing an additional 348,166 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Viasat by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 920,998 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $25,742,000 after buying an additional 118,902 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Viasat by 25.7% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 796,368 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $10,114,000 after acquiring an additional 162,804 shares in the last quarter. Cove Street Capital LLC lifted its position in Viasat by 17.7% in the 1st quarter. Cove Street Capital LLC now owns 766,753 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $13,871,000 after acquiring an additional 115,224 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Viasat during the 4th quarter valued at about $17,511,000. 86.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on VSAT. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Viasat from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Viasat from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Viasat from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $28.00 price target on shares of Viasat in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.33.

Insider Transactions at Viasat

In related news, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 2,811,442 shares of the company’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 value of $55,947,695.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,545,334 shares in the company, valued at $170,052,146.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Viasat Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of Viasat stock opened at $12.77 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.61 billion, a PE ratio of -1.45 and a beta of 1.35. Viasat, Inc. has a 1 year low of $11.76 and a 1 year high of $29.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 3.08 and a quick ratio of 2.78. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $16.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $16.45.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.26) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 41.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.83) earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Viasat, Inc. will post -1.34 EPS for the current year.

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.