Short Interest in Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) Increases By 22.1%

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totalling 15,280,000 shares, a growth of 22.1% from the June 15th total of 12,510,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,770,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 8.6 days.

Viasat Price Performance

VSAT stock opened at $15.98 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.82 and a beta of 1.37. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $15.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.36. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. Viasat has a 12-month low of $11.76 and a 12-month high of $33.70.

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

Institutional Trading of Viasat

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in Viasat by 303.6% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,009 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 759 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viasat during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. TFO Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Viasat by 11,033.3% during the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,670 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 1,655 shares during the period. Tidemark LLC bought a new position in Viasat in the fourth quarter worth about $72,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Viasat in the first quarter worth about $86,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on VSAT. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Viasat from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Viasat from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Viasat from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Viasat from $30.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $28.00 price target on shares of Viasat in a research report on Monday, June 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viasat presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.17.

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.