Key Points
- CEO Mark Dankberg sold 200,000 shares on December 15 at an average price of $35.09 for about $7.02 million, reducing his stake by 11.53% to 1,534,993 shares (≈$53.86M).
- Viasat shares were trading down about 6.5% (opened $32.17) and the stock sits in a 12‑month range of $7.36–$43.59 with a market cap near $4.35 billion and a negative PE of -8.04.
- The company beat EPS estimates (reported $0.09 vs. consensus -$0.11) while revenue was slightly below expectations, and analyst sentiment is mixed — consensus rating "Hold" with a $32.75 target amid several upgrades and some downgrades.
Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT - Get Free Report) CEO Mark Dankberg sold 200,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.09, for a total value of $7,018,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,534,993 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,862,904.37. The trade was a 11.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.
Viasat Trading Down 6.5%
Shares of Viasat stock opened at $32.17 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $35.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.35 billion, a PE ratio of -8.04 and a beta of 1.37. Viasat Inc. has a twelve month low of $7.36 and a twelve month high of $43.59.
Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, November 8th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.23) EPS. Viasat's quarterly revenue was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Viasat Inc. will post -0.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of equities analysts recently commented on VSAT shares. Raymond James Financial raised Viasat from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $52.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, November 10th. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Viasat in a research report on Wednesday, August 27th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Viasat from $25.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Viasat from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $23.00 to $50.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an "underweight" rating and issued a $23.00 target price (up from $10.00) on shares of Viasat in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Viasat currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $32.75.
View Our Latest Research Report on VSAT
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VSAT. Long Focus Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Viasat in the first quarter valued at about $24,695,000. OCO Capital Partners L.P. increased its position in shares of Viasat by 60.0% in the 2nd quarter. OCO Capital Partners L.P. now owns 6,000,000 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $87,600,000 after purchasing an additional 2,250,000 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Viasat during the first quarter valued at approximately $20,593,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Viasat by 12,255.3% during the 3rd quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 1,404,800 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $41,161,000 after acquiring an additional 1,393,430 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Viasat by 96.8% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,680,387 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $39,134,000 after buying an additional 1,318,524 shares during the last quarter. 86.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Viasat Company Profile
(
Get Free Report)
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.
Further Reading
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