Aristeia Capital L.L.C. Cuts Stake in Viasat Inc. $VSAT

Key Points

• Aristeia Capital L.L.C. sold 92,386 shares of Viasat Inc., reducing its holdings by 75.6% and leaving it with 29,887 shares valued at $311,000.
• Several hedge funds increased their stakes in Viasat during the fourth quarter, with Bank of America Corp DE notably boosting its holdings by 149.6%.
• Viasat recently reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, with an EPS of $0.17, surpassing analysts' expectations of ($0.15) and showing a 4% year-over-year revenue increase.

Aristeia Capital L.L.C. reduced its position in shares of Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT - Free Report) by 75.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,887 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 92,386 shares during the quarter. Aristeia Capital L.L.C.'s holdings in Viasat were worth $311,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Viasat by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,646,644 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $152,618,000 after buying an additional 872,784 shares during the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC raised its holdings in Viasat by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 5,190,232 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $53,913,000 after buying an additional 145,868 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Viasat by 64.9% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,866,242 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $29,866,000 after buying an additional 1,128,338 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Viasat by 26.4% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,384,942 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $24,851,000 after buying an additional 497,405 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Long Focus Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Viasat during the 1st quarter valued at $24,695,000. 86.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VSAT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Viasat from $10.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Viasat from $16.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. B. Riley decreased their price objective on shares of Viasat from $56.00 to $52.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Viasat in a report on Wednesday, August 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Viasat from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $21.13.

Viasat Stock Down 4.3%

Shares of Viasat stock traded down $1.36 during trading on Friday, hitting $30.55. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,872,756 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,953,443. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.11. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.78. The company has a market capitalization of $4.10 billion, a PE ratio of -6.61 and a beta of 1.26. Viasat Inc. has a 52 week low of $6.69 and a 52 week high of $33.85.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.15) by $0.32. Viasat had a negative net margin of 13.11% and a negative return on equity of 6.37%. The company had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.30 EPS. Viasat's revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Viasat Inc. will post -0.54 earnings per share for the current year.

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.