Quantbot Technologies LP Makes New Investment in Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT)

Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 74,734 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $636,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in Viasat by 75.3% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,950 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI acquired a new position in shares of Viasat during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Viasat in the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Viasat in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC increased its holdings in Viasat by 39.0% during the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 4,473 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,255 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on VSAT. StockNews.com raised shares of Viasat from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Viasat in a report on Friday, February 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 price objective on shares of Viasat in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price 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. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $14.57.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 3,750,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.00, for a total value of $33,750,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,795,334 shares in the company, valued at $43,158,006. This trade represents a 43.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Viasat Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VSAT opened at $11.47 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market cap of $1.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.41 and a beta of 1.38. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $9.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.99. Viasat, Inc. has a 12-month low of $6.69 and a 12-month high of $26.70.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.23) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.53) by ($0.70). Viasat had a negative return on equity of 8.37% and a negative net margin of 9.49%. On average, research analysts forecast that Viasat, Inc. will post -0.54 EPS for the current year.

Viasat 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.