Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eight analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $15.57.

Several analysts recently issued reports on VSAT shares. Barclays raised their target price on Viasat from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 target price on shares of Viasat in a research note on Monday, February 10th. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Viasat in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Viasat from $26.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viasat

In other Viasat news, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 3,750,000 shares of Viasat stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.00, for a total transaction of $33,750,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 4,795,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,158,006. The trade was a 43.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Mark J. Miller sold 3,564 shares of the business’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 value of $32,824.44. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 350,351 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,226,732.71. This represents a 1.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Viasat

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. National Bank of Canada FI bought a new stake in shares of Viasat in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Viasat in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. KBC Group NV boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,021 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Viasat by 75.3% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,950 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viasat in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. 86.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Viasat Stock Down 4.5 %

VSAT opened at $8.35 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $1.08 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.49 and a beta of 1.35. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $9.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $10.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. Viasat has a 12 month low of $6.69 and a 12 month high of $26.70.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.23) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.53) by ($0.70). Viasat had a negative return on equity of 8.37% and a negative net margin of 9.49%. On average, equities analysts expect that Viasat will post -0.54 EPS for the current year.

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.