Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Purchases New Position in Viasat Inc. $VSAT

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 101,221 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,578,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VSAT. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in Viasat by 483.2% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 109,448 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,140,000 after buying an additional 90,680 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Viasat by 189.7% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 452,933 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $4,692,000 after acquiring an additional 296,612 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Viasat by 673.7% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,386,089 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $14,443,000 after purchasing an additional 1,206,935 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Viasat by 64.9% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,866,242 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,866,000 after purchasing an additional 1,128,338 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Viasat by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 226,184 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,357,000 after buying an additional 14,575 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viasat news, Director Theresa Wise sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.00, for a total transaction of $172,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 11,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $759,000. This represents a 18.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Richard A. Baldridge sold 27,122 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.74, for a total transaction of $1,945,732.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 213,355 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,306,087.70. The trade was a 11.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 438,803 shares of company stock worth $28,655,600 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Viasat Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VSAT opened at $71.70 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $72.04 and a 200-day moving average of $58.12. The firm has a market cap of $9.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -247.24 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a current ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 2.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. Viasat Inc. has a twelve month low of $14.11 and a twelve month high of $93.03.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by ($0.34). The business had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. Viasat had a positive return on equity of 1.58% and a negative net margin of 0.73%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.02) earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Viasat Inc. will post -0.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VSAT. Barclays set a $49.00 price target on shares of Viasat in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Viasat in a research note on Friday, July 17th. B. Riley Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Viasat from $94.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $97.00 target price on shares of Viasat in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $74.00 price objective on shares of Viasat and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.11.

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.