Picton Mahoney Asset Management Makes New Investment in Viasat Inc. $VSAT

Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 147,649 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,326,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quent Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Viasat during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new position in Viasat in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in Viasat by 6,815.4% in the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 899 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 886 shares in the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management bought a new position in Viasat during the 3rd quarter worth $44,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Viasat by 15.9% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,387 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viasat

In other Viasat news, CEO Mark D. Dankberg sold 200,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.09, for a total transaction of $7,018,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,534,993 shares in the company, valued at $53,862,904.37. This represents a 11.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Shawn Lynn Duffy sold 51,480 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.38, for a total value of $1,872,842.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 6,021 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,043.98. This represents a 89.53% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 354,290 shares of company stock worth $13,059,722 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Viasat Stock Performance

Shares of Viasat stock opened at $45.53 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The company has a market cap of $6.18 billion, a PE ratio of -17.58 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a 50 day moving average of $43.23 and a 200-day moving average of $36.85. Viasat Inc. has a 1-year low of $7.36 and a 1-year high of $50.24.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VSAT has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Viasat from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $23.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Viasat from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, November 10th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viasat in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley set a $51.00 target price on shares of Viasat in a report on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Viasat in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Viasat has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.86.

About Viasat

Viasat, Inc (NASDAQ: VSAT) provides high‐capacity satellite broadband and wireless communications services to consumer, commercial and government customers worldwide. The company designs and operates satellite systems and network infrastructure to deliver secure, high-speed connectivity across remote and underserved regions, as well as managed networking solutions for enterprises and public sector agencies.

Viasat’s product offerings include residential and enterprise satellite internet services, in-flight connectivity for commercial airlines and business jets, and secure networking platforms tailored to defense and intelligence users.