South Dakota Investment Council Acquires 161,552 Shares of Viasat Inc. $VSAT

South Dakota Investment Council grew its holdings in shares of Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) by 92.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 336,056 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 161,552 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council owned approximately 0.25% of Viasat worth $15,391,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN raised its stake in Viasat by 15.8% during the second quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 5,845,100 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $85,338,000 after buying an additional 796,349 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Viasat by 18.2% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,789,539 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $219,346,000 after acquiring an additional 738,656 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Viasat by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,328,854 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $115,266,000 after acquiring an additional 273,369 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Viasat by 2,821.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,222,981 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $111,065,000 after acquiring an additional 3,112,670 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Viasat by 64.9% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,866,242 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $29,866,000 after purchasing an additional 1,128,338 shares during the last quarter. 86.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Viasat Trading Down 5.3%

Viasat stock opened at $70.19 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 2.41 and a quick ratio of 2.19. Viasat Inc. has a one year low of $14.63 and a one year high of $93.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.67 billion, a PE ratio of -242.03 and a beta of 1.70. The business’s fifty day moving average is $72.07 and its 200 day moving average is $58.96.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by ($0.34). The business had revenue of $1.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion. Viasat had a positive return on equity of 1.58% and a negative net margin of 0.73%.Viasat’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.02) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Viasat Inc. will post -0.39 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Viasat

In other news, CEO Mark D. Dankberg sold 400,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.76, for a total transaction of $25,904,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,082,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $70,083,012.96. The trade was a 26.99% 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Garrett L. Chase sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.23, for a total transaction of $288,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 30,239 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,184,162.97. This trade represents a 11.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 442,803 shares of company stock valued at $28,944,520. Company insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VSAT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Viasat from $58.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. New Street Research began coverage on shares of Viasat in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $100.00 target price for the company. B. Riley Financial upped their target price on shares of Viasat from $94.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Viasat in a report on Monday, June 29th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $140.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Viasat in a research report on Friday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.11.

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.