Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Sells 785,813 Shares of Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP reduced its holdings in shares of Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) by 53.7% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 677,144 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 785,813 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Viasat were worth $8,601,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Viasat by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,184,209 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $340,549,000 after purchasing an additional 286,872 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Viasat by 1,752.3% during the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 159,355 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,883,000 after purchasing an additional 150,752 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Viasat by 11.2% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,145 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $328,000 after acquiring an additional 1,833 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in Viasat by 12.2% in the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 44,886 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $812,000 after acquiring an additional 4,897 shares during the period. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its holdings in Viasat by 23.2% in the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 70,622 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,277,000 after acquiring an additional 13,304 shares during the period. 86.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Viasat Stock Performance

Shares of VSAT opened at $11.23 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.78, a current ratio of 3.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.91. The stock has a market cap of $1.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.28 and a beta of 1.34. Viasat, Inc. has a 52 week low of $10.87 and a 52 week high of $29.11.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.26) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.42) by $0.16. Viasat had a negative return on equity of 19.76% and a negative net margin of 22.13%. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.83) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 41.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Viasat, Inc. will post -1.43 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 2,811,442 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.90, for a total transaction of $55,947,695.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 8,545,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $170,052,146.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on VSAT. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Viasat from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $28.00 target price on shares of Viasat in a report on Monday, June 17th. StockNews.com downgraded Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 31st. Bank of America lowered their target price on Viasat from $31.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Viasat from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $29.00 to $15.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.33.

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.