Caxton Associates LLP Acquires New Position in Viasat Inc. $VSAT

Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new stake in Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 7,854 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $360,000.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Viasat in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new position in Viasat during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Viasat during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Viasat during the first quarter worth $51,000. Finally, EFG International AG purchased a new stake in Viasat in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. 86.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on Viasat from $58.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Raymond James Financial set a $74.00 price objective on shares of Viasat and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Viasat in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Viasat in a report on Monday, June 29th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $140.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.11.

Viasat Price Performance

NASDAQ:VSAT opened at $74.13 on Wednesday. Viasat Inc. has a 52 week low of $14.50 and a 52 week high of $93.03. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $72.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.73. The company has a market capitalization of $10.12 billion, a P/E ratio of -255.62 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a quick ratio of 2.19, a current ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by ($0.34). The business had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion. Viasat had a positive return on equity of 1.58% and a negative net margin of 0.73%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.02) earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Viasat Inc. will post -0.39 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Garrett L. Chase sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.41, for a total value of $249,640.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 34,239 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,136,855.99. The trade was a 10.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Theresa Wise sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.00, for a total transaction of $172,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 11,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $759,000. This represents a 18.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 442,803 shares of company stock valued at $28,944,520 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Viasat Company Profile

Viasat, Inc (NASDAQ: VSAT) provides high‐capacity satellite broadband and wireless communications services to consumer, commercial and government customers worldwide. The company designs and operates satellite systems and network infrastructure to deliver secure, high-speed connectivity across remote and underserved regions, as well as managed networking solutions for enterprises and public sector agencies.

Viasat’s product offerings include residential and enterprise satellite internet services, in-flight connectivity for commercial airlines and business jets, and secure networking platforms tailored to defense and intelligence users.