Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) Short Interest Update

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) saw a significant increase in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 19,020,000 shares, an increase of 19.5% from the October 15th total of 15,910,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,340,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 8.1 days.

Viasat Stock Performance

NASDAQ VSAT opened at $7.40 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. Viasat has a twelve month low of $7.30 and a twelve month high of $29.11. The stock has a market cap of $950.09 million, a PE ratio of -2.37 and a beta of 1.37.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on VSAT shares. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on shares of Viasat from $28.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. StockNews.com cut Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 31st. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Viasat from $31.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Viasat from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $29.00 to $15.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.83.

Institutional Trading of Viasat

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. National Bank of Canada FI purchased a new position in shares of Viasat during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Viasat during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Viasat in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Viasat by 63.7% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,623 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,021 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Viasat by 176.3% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,777 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 1,772 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

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.