Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Trading 7.9% Higher – Still a Buy?

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Viasat Trading Down 6.9 %

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.88 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

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

Insider Activity at Viasat

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Viasat by 25.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 796,368 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,114,000 after acquiring an additional 162,804 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in Viasat by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 13,044 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $166,000 after buying an additional 997 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in Viasat by 31.4% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 301,566 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $3,830,000 after buying an additional 72,104 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viasat in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Viasat by 4.2% in the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 16,455 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $209,000 after buying an additional 667 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.