ProShare Advisors LLC Decreases Holdings in Viasat Inc. $VSAT

ProShare Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) by 12.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 24,801 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 3,600 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Viasat were worth $362,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cerity Partners LLC bought a new stake in Viasat in the first quarter worth $204,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of Viasat by 38.3% in the first quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 38,294 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $399,000 after buying an additional 10,600 shares during the period. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Viasat by 974.4% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 16,772 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $175,000 after acquiring an additional 15,211 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC boosted its holdings in Viasat by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 16,673 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $174,000 after acquiring an additional 1,700 shares during the period. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Viasat during the 1st quarter worth approximately $735,000. Institutional investors own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

Viasat Stock Performance

Shares of VSAT stock opened at $30.35 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.57 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $34.29 and a 200 day moving average of $23.42. Viasat Inc. has a 52 week low of $7.36 and a 52 week high of $43.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, November 8th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by $0.20. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. Viasat had a negative net margin of 13.11% and a negative return on equity of 6.37%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.23) EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Viasat Inc. will post -0.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on VSAT shares. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Viasat from $25.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viasat in a research note on Wednesday, August 27th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Viasat from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Viasat from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $23.00 to $50.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Viasat from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viasat news, insider Benjamin Edward Palmer sold 2,780 shares of Viasat stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.06, for a total transaction of $100,246.80. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 27,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,003,585.86. The trade was a 9.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Robert James Blair sold 2,269 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.61, for a total value of $80,799.09. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 68,519 shares in the company, valued at $2,439,961.59. This trade represents a 3.21% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 105,049 shares of company stock worth $3,281,046 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

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.