Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. Acquires Shares of 210,000 Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT)

Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 210,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,787,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Viasat by 6.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,445,811 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $53,083,000 after purchasing an additional 276,376 shares in the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN lifted its holdings in Viasat by 28.1% during the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 4,419,223 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $52,766,000 after purchasing an additional 969,942 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Viasat by 5.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,508,056 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,950,000 after buying an additional 122,472 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Viasat by 8.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,523,465 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $18,190,000 after buying an additional 115,909 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Viasat by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 413,122 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,516,000 after buying an additional 12,802 shares during the last quarter. 86.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on VSAT shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Viasat from $26.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Viasat in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Viasat from $24.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viasat from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Viasat in a research report on Friday, January 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $12.00 price objective for the company. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $15.43.

Viasat Price Performance

Shares of VSAT opened at $9.31 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. Viasat, Inc. has a 1-year low of $6.69 and a 1-year high of $26.70.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.23) 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that Viasat, Inc. will post -0.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Mark J. Miller sold 3,564 shares of Viasat stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.21, for a total value of $32,824.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 350,351 shares in the company, valued at $3,226,732.71. The trade was a 1.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 3,750,000 shares of Viasat stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.00, for a total transaction of $33,750,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 4,795,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,158,006. This represents a 43.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Viasat Company 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.