Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Shares Up 5.9% – Should You Buy?

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) rose 5.9% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $9.35 and last traded at $9.31. Approximately 660,674 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 66% from the average daily volume of 1,961,802 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.79.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Viasat from $31.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Viasat from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $29.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. StockNews.com cut Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 31st. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on 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 reduced their target price 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viasat presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.33.

Viasat Trading Up 0.1 %

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $13.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The company has a market cap of $1.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.94 and a beta of 1.34.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last posted its 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). The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. Viasat had a negative return on equity of 7.58% and a negative net margin of 8.73%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($6.16) EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Viasat, Inc. will post -2.38 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Viasat news, EVP Mark J. Miller sold 3,564 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.21, for a total transaction of $32,824.44. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viasat

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Viasat by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 37,800 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $480,000 after buying an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Viasat by 4.2% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 16,455 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $209,000 after buying an additional 667 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in shares of Viasat by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 13,044 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $166,000 after acquiring an additional 997 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Viasat by 63.7% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,623 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 1,021 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in Viasat by 2.6% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 63,656 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $760,000 after purchasing an additional 1,584 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.