Viasat Inc. $VSAT Shares Sold by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System trimmed its position in Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) by 12.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,855 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 3,624 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Viasat were worth $259,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Viasat by 233.4% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,177 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 2,224 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Viasat by 850.4% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 3,963 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 3,546 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Viasat in the 1st quarter valued at about $63,000. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in Viasat by 46.4% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 6,367 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 2,019 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wexford Capital LP purchased a new position in Viasat in the 4th quarter valued at about $93,000. 86.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on VSAT shares. William Blair upgraded shares of Viasat from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. B. Riley cut their price objective on shares of Viasat from $56.00 to $52.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Viasat from $10.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Viasat in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Viasat from $16.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.13.

Viasat Stock Up 1.1%

VSAT opened at $27.39 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $16.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.04. The company has a market cap of $3.68 billion, a PE ratio of -5.93 and a beta of 1.20. Viasat Inc. has a 1 year low of $6.69 and a 1 year high of $28.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.11.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $1.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. Viasat had a negative net margin of 13.11% and a negative return on equity of 6.37%. The company’s revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.30 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Viasat Inc. will post -0.54 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.