This Viasat Insider Increased Their Holding By 21% Last Year

Insiders were net buyers of Viasat, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:VSAT ) stock during the past year. That is, insiders bought more stock than they sold.

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

View our latest analysis for Viasat

Viasat Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by Director Richard Baldridge for US$820k worth of shares, at about US$15.00 per share. That means that even when the share price was higher than US$8.99 (the recent price), an insider wanted to purchase shares. Their view may have changed since then, but at least it shows they felt optimistic at the time. We always take careful note of the price insiders pay when purchasing shares. As a general rule, we feel more positive about a stock when an insider has bought shares at above current prices, because that suggests they viewed the stock as good value, even at a higher price. Richard Baldridge was the only individual insider to buy during the last year.

You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

There are always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. If investing in lesser known companies is your style, you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

Insiders At Viasat Have Sold Stock Recently

Over the last three months, we've seen a bit of insider selling at Viasat. Co-Founder Mark Miller sold just US$33k worth of shares in that time. It's not great to see insider selling, nor the lack of recent buyers. But the volume sold is so low that it really doesn't bother us.

Does Viasat Boast High Insider Ownership?

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Insiders own 3.2% of Viasat shares, worth about US$40m. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Viasat Tell Us?

We did not see any insider buying in the last three months, but we did see selling. But given the selling was modest, we're not worried. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. Insiders own shares in Viasat and we see no evidence to suggest they are worried about the future. So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. To assist with this, we've discovered 3 warning signs that you should run your eye over to get a better picture of Viasat.

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.