Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Grows Stake in Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) by 23.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,887,537 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 364,072 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Viasat were worth $16,063,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Viasat by 75.3% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,950 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267 shares in the last quarter. South Dakota Investment Council lifted its holdings in shares of Viasat by 98.5% during the 4th quarter. South Dakota Investment Council now owns 675,378 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $5,747,000 after acquiring an additional 335,082 shares during the last quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Viasat during the 4th quarter worth $1,787,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viasat during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Viasat by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 413,122 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $3,516,000 after acquiring an additional 12,802 shares during the last quarter. 86.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VSAT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Viasat from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Viasat in a report on Friday, January 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $12.00 price objective for the company. William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Viasat in a report on Friday, February 7th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 price target on shares of Viasat in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Viasat from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Viasat has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.57.

Viasat Stock Performance

Viasat stock opened at $9.60 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a PE ratio of -2.86 and a beta of 1.38. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $10.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. Viasat, Inc. has a twelve month low of $6.69 and a twelve month high of $26.70.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 9.49% and a negative return on equity of 8.37%. Research analysts expect that Viasat, Inc. will post -0.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Viasat

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

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.