Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Shares Gap Down After Insider Selling

Shares of Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday following insider selling activity. The stock had previously closed at $11.17, but opened at $8.93. Viasat shares last traded at $9.24, with a volume of 3,731,604 shares trading hands.

Specifically, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 3,750,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.00, for a total value of $33,750,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,795,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,158,006. The trade was a 43.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on VSAT shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Viasat from $26.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 price target on shares of Viasat in a research report on Monday. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on shares of Viasat in a research note on Friday, January 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $12.00 target price for the company. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Viasat from $24.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Viasat in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viasat presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.43.

Viasat Trading Up 0.6 %

The business has a fifty day moving average price of $9.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a PE ratio of -2.70 and a beta of 1.35.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.23) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.53) by ($0.70). Viasat had a negative return on equity of 8.28% and a negative net margin of 9.49%. Analysts expect that Viasat, Inc. will post -2.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Viasat

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VSAT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Viasat by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,773,860 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $117,216,000 after buying an additional 194,006 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Viasat by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,445,811 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $53,083,000 after purchasing an additional 276,376 shares in the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its position in shares of Viasat by 28.1% during the 3rd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 4,419,223 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $52,766,000 after acquiring an additional 969,942 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Viasat by 5.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,508,056 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,950,000 after purchasing an additional 122,472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Viasat by 23.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,887,537 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $16,063,000 after acquiring an additional 364,072 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.05% 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.