Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Shares Down 4.1%

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT)’s stock price traded down 4.1% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $12.70 and last traded at $13.02. 314,192 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 1,656,119 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.57.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on VSAT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Viasat from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $29.00 to $15.00 in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Viasat from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. StockNews.com cut Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 31st. Barclays decreased their price objective on Viasat from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of Viasat in a research report on Monday, June 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.83.

Viasat Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.58 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.43 and a beta of 1.35. The business’s 50-day moving average is $17.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.50. The company has a quick ratio of 2.78, a current ratio of 3.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.42) by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. Viasat had a negative return on equity of 19.76% and a negative net margin of 22.13%. The company’s revenue was up 41.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.83) EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Viasat, Inc. will post -1.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viasat

In other news, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 2,811,442 shares of Viasat stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.90, for a total transaction of $55,947,695.80. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,545,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $170,052,146.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viasat

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of VSAT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Viasat by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,184,209 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $340,549,000 after buying an additional 286,872 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its stake in Viasat by 1,752.3% in the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 159,355 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,883,000 after buying an additional 150,752 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Viasat by 11.2% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,145 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $328,000 after acquiring an additional 1,833 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its position in shares of Viasat by 12.2% in the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 44,886 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $812,000 after purchasing an additional 4,897 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its stake in shares of Viasat by 23.2% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 70,622 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,277,000 after purchasing an additional 13,304 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.