Insider Selling: Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) CEO Sells $4,034,000.00 in Stock

Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) CEO Mark Dankberg sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.34, for a total value of $4,034,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,434,993 shares in the company, valued at approximately $57,887,617.62. This represents a 6.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Viasat Trading Up 5.4%

Viasat stock opened at $40.81 on Friday. Viasat Inc. has a 1 year low of $7.36 and a 1 year high of $43.59. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $35.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $29.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market cap of $5.52 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.20 and a beta of 1.39.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last posted its earnings results on Saturday, November 8th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by $0.20. The company had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.15 billion. Viasat had a negative net margin of 11.40% and a negative return on equity of 3.65%. Viasat’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.23) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Viasat Inc. will post -0.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new position in Viasat during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,099,000. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Viasat during the second quarter worth $3,066,000. Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Viasat by 6.8% during the second quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 5,541,636 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $80,908,000 after purchasing an additional 351,404 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Viasat in the second quarter worth about $1,601,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC increased its stake in Viasat by 746.4% in the 2nd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 13,567 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $198,000 after buying an additional 11,964 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and set a $23.00 price target (up previously from $10.00) on shares of Viasat in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Viasat from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $23.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Viasat from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of Viasat from $25.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Viasat in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viasat presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.75.

About Viasat

Viasat, Inc (NASDAQ: VSAT) provides high‐capacity satellite broadband and wireless communications services to consumer, commercial and government customers worldwide. The company designs and operates satellite systems and network infrastructure to deliver secure, high-speed connectivity across remote and underserved regions, as well as managed networking solutions for enterprises and public sector agencies.

Viasat’s product offerings include residential and enterprise satellite internet services, in-flight connectivity for commercial airlines and business jets, and secure networking platforms tailored to defense and intelligence users.