Vanguard Group Inc. Has $152.62 Million Stake in Viasat Inc. $VSAT

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) by 6.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,646,644 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 872,784 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 11.34% of Viasat worth $152,618,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of VSAT. Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its position in shares of Viasat by 538.7% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 1,136,675 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $9,673,000 after purchasing an additional 958,706 shares in the last quarter. Tenzing Global Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Viasat during the fourth quarter worth approximately $7,170,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Viasat by 149.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,365,194 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $11,618,000 after purchasing an additional 818,301 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its holdings in Viasat by 2,262.9% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 539,534 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,591,000 after buying an additional 516,700 shares during the period. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Viasat in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,901,000. 86.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Viasat Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:VSAT opened at $25.97 on Thursday. Viasat Inc. has a 12 month low of $6.69 and a 12 month high of $28.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $17.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.24. The firm has a market cap of $3.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.62 and a beta of 1.20.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.32. Viasat had a negative net margin of 13.11% and a negative return on equity of 6.37%. The business had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.13 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.30 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Viasat Inc. will post -0.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VSAT. William Blair upgraded shares of Viasat from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Viasat from $10.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Viasat from $16.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating on shares of Viasat in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Viasat from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.13.

About Viasat

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.