Mark Dankberg Sells 100,000 Shares of Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Stock

Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) CEO Mark Dankberg sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.34, for a total value of $4,034,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,434,993 shares in the company, valued at approximately $57,887,617.62. The trade was a 6.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Viasat Trading Up 5.4%

Shares of VSAT opened at $40.81 on Friday. Viasat Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $7.36 and a fifty-two week high of $43.59. The business has a 50-day moving average of $35.59 and a 200 day moving average of $29.52. The firm has a market cap of $5.52 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.20 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 2.08.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, November 8th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by $0.20. Viasat had a negative net margin of 11.40% and a negative return on equity of 3.65%. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.23) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Viasat Inc. will post -0.54 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viasat

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new position in Viasat in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its position in Viasat by 6,815.4% in the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 899 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 886 shares in the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new position in Viasat in the third quarter worth $28,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in Viasat in the second quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Viasat during the third quarter valued at about $44,000. 86.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VSAT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James Financial raised Viasat from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, November 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Viasat in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Viasat from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $23.00 to $50.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective (up from $10.00) on shares of Viasat in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Viasat from $25.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.75.

Viasat Company Profile

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.