Aristeia Capital L.L.C. Invests $1.04 Million in Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT)

Aristeia Capital L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 122,273 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,041,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its stake in Viasat by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 5,044,364 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $42,912,000 after purchasing an additional 700,533 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Viasat by 46.8% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,093,740 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $17,818,000 after acquiring an additional 667,564 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Viasat by 150.2% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 706,792 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $6,015,000 after acquiring an additional 424,317 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings 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. Finally, Jump Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Viasat by 2,709.0% in the 4th quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 373,620 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $3,180,000 after purchasing an additional 360,319 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on VSAT shares. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on Viasat in a research note on Friday, January 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $12.00 price target for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective on shares of Viasat in a report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley dropped 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. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Viasat from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Viasat has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $14.57.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 3,750,000 shares of Viasat stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now owns 4,795,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,158,006. The trade was a 43.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Viasat Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VSAT opened at $9.38 on Friday. Viasat, Inc. has a 1 year low of $6.69 and a 1 year high of $26.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 1.80. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $9.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.33. The firm has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.79 and a beta of 1.06.

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