Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Shares Up 7.9% – What’s Next?

Shares of Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) were up 7.9% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $9.90 and last traded at $9.80. Approximately 446,861 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 2,542,371 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.08.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on VSAT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Viasat from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $29.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Viasat from $31.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of Viasat from $28.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Viasat from $24.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.33.

Viasat Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The business has a 50-day moving average of $9.07 and a 200 day moving average of $12.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.29 billion, a PE ratio of -3.21 and a beta of 1.34.

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

Insider Activity

In other Viasat news, EVP Mark J. Miller sold 3,564 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.21, for a total value of $32,824.44. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 350,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,226,732.71. The trade was a 1.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viasat

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its stake in shares of Viasat by 28.1% during the 3rd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 4,419,223 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $52,766,000 after purchasing an additional 969,942 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in Viasat by 1,145.1% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 816,478 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $10,369,000 after buying an additional 750,904 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Viasat by 6.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,445,811 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $53,083,000 after buying an additional 276,376 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Viasat by 63.6% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 644,155 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $8,181,000 after buying an additional 250,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PDT Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Viasat during the 3rd quarter worth $1,980,000. 86.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.