Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Purchases Shares of 22,889 Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 22,889 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $195,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. National Bank of Canada FI acquired a new stake in Viasat during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Viasat during the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Viasat by 75.3% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,950 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Viasat in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC lifted its position in Viasat by 39.0% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 4,473 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 1,255 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.05% of the company's stock.

Viasat Stock Performance

VSAT stock traded down $0.50 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $10.42. 2,265,639 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,622,199. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.35 billion, a PE ratio of -3.10 and a beta of 1.38. The business has a 50-day moving average of $9.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.85. Viasat, Inc. has a 52 week low of $6.69 and a 52 week high of $26.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35.

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Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.23) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.53) by ($0.70). Viasat had a negative net margin of 9.49% and a negative return on equity of 8.37%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Viasat, Inc. will post -0.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Viasat

In related news, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 3,750,000 shares of Viasat stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 4,795,334 shares of the company's stock, valued at $43,158,006. This trade represents a 43.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on VSAT. Barclays boosted their price target on Viasat from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $19.00 target price on shares of Viasat in a research report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viasat from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. William Blair reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Viasat in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Viasat from $26.00 to $12.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $14.57.

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.