Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Stock Price Up 6.4% – What’s Next?

Shares of Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) shot up 6.4% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $9.25 and last traded at $9.25. 266,486 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 1,895,250 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.69.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VSAT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on shares of Viasat from $28.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Viasat from $31.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Barclays reduced their target price on Viasat from $24.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. StockNews.com downgraded Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Viasat from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $29.00 to $15.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.33.

Viasat Stock Performance

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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $10.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $14.09.

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 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 company’s revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned ($6.16) EPS. Analysts predict that Viasat, Inc. will post -2.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viasat

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VSAT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Viasat by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,532,375 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $226,711,000 after acquiring an additional 348,166 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its position in shares of Viasat by 23.2% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 70,622 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,277,000 after purchasing an additional 13,304 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Viasat by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 60,183 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,089,000 after purchasing an additional 3,712 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Viasat in the second quarter valued at $293,000. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Viasat during the second quarter worth $67,000. 86.05% of the stock is owned by 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.