Bayforest Capital Ltd Acquires Shares of 36,248 Viasat Inc. $VSAT

Key Points

• Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) by purchasing 36,248 shares valued at approximately $378,000 in the first quarter of the year.
• Viasat's stock decreased by 5.6% recently, with a market cap of $3.91 billion and earnings showing a positive surprise as the company reported an EPS of $0.17, exceeding analyst expectations.
• Institutional investors now own 86.05% of Viasat's stock, with several firms recently increasing their stakes, indicating heightened interest in the company.

Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 36,248 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $378,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of VSAT. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in Viasat by 233.4% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,177 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 2,224 shares during the last quarter. MAI Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Viasat by 74.7% in the 1st quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 3,836 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 1,640 shares during the period. Quarry LP boosted its position in shares of Viasat by 2,412.3% during the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 5,728 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 5,500 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Viasat during the 1st quarter worth approximately $63,000. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its position in shares of Viasat by 46.4% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 6,367 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 2,019 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.05% of the company's stock.

Viasat Trading Down 3.2%

VSAT stock traded down $1.05 on Tuesday, hitting $31.87. 886,422 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,665,161. Viasat Inc. has a twelve month low of $6.69 and a twelve month high of $33.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 2.11 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The business's fifty day moving average is $23.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.88 and a beta of 1.27.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. B. Riley lowered their price objective on shares of Viasat from $56.00 to $52.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Viasat from $10.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Viasat from $16.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Viasat from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Viasat in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $21.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Viasat news, Director Richard A. Baldridge sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.00, for a total transaction of $3,100,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 197,161 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,111,991. This trade represents a 33.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Viasat 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.