Cove Street Capital LLC Lowers Holdings in Viasat Inc. $VSAT

Key Points

• Cove Street Capital LLC reduced its stake in Viasat Inc. by 27.8%, selling 76,001 shares and now owns 197,405 shares, making it the firm's 8th largest position.
• Analysts have had mixed reviews on Viasat, with some upgrading their ratings and price targets, while others like B. Riley, have lowered the target price from $56.00 to $52.00.
• Viasat's stock declined by 4.9% recently, currently priced at $29.50, despite reporting earnings of $0.17 per share, surpassing analyst expectations.

Cove Street Capital LLC cut its stake in shares of Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT - Free Report) by 27.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 197,405 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 76,001 shares during the quarter. Viasat makes up 3.2% of Cove Street Capital LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Cove Street Capital LLC owned about 0.15% of Viasat worth $2,057,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Viasat by 6.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,646,644 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $152,618,000 after purchasing an additional 872,784 shares during the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viasat by 2.9% during the first quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 5,190,232 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $53,913,000 after purchasing an additional 145,868 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Viasat by 26.4% during the first 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 purchasing an additional 497,405 shares during the last quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Viasat during the first quarter valued at approximately $24,695,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Viasat during the first quarter valued at approximately $20,593,000. 86.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Viasat Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of Viasat stock traded down $0.45 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $29.65. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,681,033 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,809,736. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.98 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.42 and a beta of 1.27. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $13.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. Viasat Inc. has a 1-year low of $6.69 and a 1-year high of $33.85.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.15) by $0.32. Viasat had a negative return on equity of 6.37% and a negative net margin of 13.11%.The business had revenue of $1.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.30 earnings per share. Viasat's revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Viasat Inc. will post -0.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VSAT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised Viasat from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Viasat from $10.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Viasat in a report on Thursday, August 7th. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Viasat in a research note on Wednesday, August 27th. Finally, B. Riley decreased their price target on Viasat from $56.00 to $52.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $21.13.

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.