Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires New Stake in Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 37,400 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,045,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Viasat by 37.8% in the 4th quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 390,310 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $10,909,000 after buying an additional 107,006 shares during the last quarter. Cambiar Investors LLC acquired a new stake in Viasat in the 4th quarter worth about $228,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Viasat by 36.7% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 78,406 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,191,000 after buying an additional 21,056 shares during the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Viasat by 108.6% in the 4th quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 31,260 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $874,000 after buying an additional 16,274 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in Viasat in the 4th quarter worth about $211,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Barclays decreased their price target on Viasat from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.17.

Viasat Stock Performance

Viasat stock opened at $16.12 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $17.81 and its 200-day moving average is $20.61. The company has a market cap of $2.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 2.46. Viasat, Inc. has a 12 month low of $15.02 and a 12 month high of $47.35.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.99) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.14) by ($0.85). The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.12 billion. Viasat had a return on equity of 4.52% and a net margin of 6.01%. Equities analysts anticipate that Viasat, Inc. will post -1.43 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.