Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Shares Gap Up to $14.77

Shares of Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $14.77, but opened at $15.49. Viasat shares last traded at $15.06, with a volume of 175,623 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on VSAT. Bank of America raised their price target on Viasat from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Barclays decreased their price target on Viasat from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Viasat from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Viasat from $30.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Viasat from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $25.17.

Viasat Stock Up 3.2 %

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.44. The stock has a market cap of $2.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.82 and a beta of 1.37.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 21st. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.72) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.60) by ($0.12). Viasat had a negative net margin of 24.95% and a negative return on equity of 19.76%. The company had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Viasat, Inc. will post -1.46 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viasat

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 purchasing an additional 348,166 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Viasat by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 920,998 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $25,742,000 after purchasing an additional 118,902 shares during the period. Cove Street Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Viasat by 17.7% during the first quarter. Cove Street Capital LLC now owns 766,753 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $13,871,000 after purchasing an additional 115,224 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Viasat during the fourth quarter worth about $17,511,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Viasat by 1.1% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 391,544 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $7,083,000 after purchasing an additional 4,236 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

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.