National Bank of Canada FI Makes New Investment in Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT)

National Bank of Canada FI acquired a new stake in Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 2,221 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $27,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of Viasat by 1.6% in the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 37,800 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $480,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Viasat by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 16,455 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 667 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in shares of Viasat by 8.3% during the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 13,044 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $166,000 after buying an additional 997 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Viasat by 63.7% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,623 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,021 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IMA Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Viasat by 3.1% in the second quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. now owns 40,775 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $518,000 after buying an additional 1,223 shares in the last quarter. 86.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Viasat Trading Down 7.0 %

NASDAQ VSAT opened at $8.50 on Thursday. Viasat, Inc. has a 12 month low of $6.69 and a 12 month high of $29.11. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $13.27. 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.09 billion, a PE ratio of -2.72 and a beta of 1.34.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.07) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.54) by ($0.53). The company had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. Viasat had a negative net margin of 8.73% and a negative return on equity of 7.58%. The business’s revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned ($6.16) earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Viasat, Inc. will post -2.38 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Viasat

In other Viasat news, EVP Mark J. Miller sold 3,564 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.21, for a total transaction of $32,824.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 350,351 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,226,732.71. This trade represents a 1.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VSAT. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Viasat from $31.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 20th. StockNews.com cut shares of Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Viasat from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $29.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on Viasat from $28.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Viasat from $24.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.33.

Viasat Company Profile

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.