Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Sells 2,811,442 Shares of Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lessened its position in shares of Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) by 24.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,545,334 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,811,442 shares during the quarter. Viasat makes up approximately 0.9% of Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board owned approximately 6.69% of Viasat worth $102,031,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Viasat by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,532,375 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $226,711,000 after buying an additional 348,166 shares during the period. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its position in Viasat by 1.1% during the second quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 3,449,281 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $43,806,000 after acquiring an additional 36,681 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in Viasat by 1,145.1% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 816,478 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $10,369,000 after acquiring an additional 750,904 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Viasat by 25.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 796,368 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $10,114,000 after acquiring an additional 162,804 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Viasat by 63.6% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 644,155 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $8,181,000 after purchasing an additional 250,389 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on VSAT. Bank of America decreased their target price on Viasat from $31.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on shares of Viasat from $28.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Viasat from $24.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Viasat from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $29.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Viasat currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.33.

Viasat Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VSAT opened at $6.83 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $876.90 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.19 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.44. Viasat, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $6.76 and a fifty-two week high of $29.11. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $10.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.43.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.54) by ($0.53). The company had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. Viasat had a negative net margin of 8.73% and a negative return on equity of 7.58%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($6.16) EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Viasat, Inc. will post -2.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.