State of Alaska Department of Revenue Purchases 3,546 Shares of Viasat Inc. $VSAT

State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its position in shares of Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) by 7.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 50,765 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,546 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Viasat were worth $740,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in VSAT. Long Focus Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viasat during the 1st quarter valued at about $24,695,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viasat during the 1st quarter valued at about $20,593,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Viasat by 64.9% during 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 during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Viasat by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,646,644 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $152,618,000 after acquiring an additional 872,784 shares during the period. 86.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Viasat Trading Down 5.2%

VSAT stock opened at $31.29 on Wednesday. Viasat Inc. has a 1-year low of $6.69 and a 1-year high of $34.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 2.11 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The company has a market capitalization of $4.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.77 and a beta of 1.21. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.21.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on VSAT shares. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $23.00 price objective (up from $10.00) on shares of Viasat in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Viasat in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Viasat from $16.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Viasat from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viasat in a research note on Wednesday, August 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.29.

Insider Activity at Viasat

In other news, Director Richard A. Baldridge sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.00, for a total transaction of $3,100,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 197,161 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,111,991. This represents a 33.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

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.