Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Stock Price Up 10.1% – Time to Buy?

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT)’s share price shot up 10.1% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $9.35 and last traded at $9.43. 2,517,853 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 41% from the average session volume of 4,246,234 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.56.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on VSAT shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Viasat from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 price target on shares of Viasat in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Viasat in a research report on Friday, January 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $12.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Viasat from $26.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.57.

Viasat Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.80 and a quick ratio of 1.60. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.67. The stock has a market cap of $1.24 billion, a PE ratio of -2.87 and a beta of 1.38.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last announced 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 net margin of 9.49% and a negative return on equity of 8.37%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Viasat, Inc. will post -0.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 transaction of $32,824.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 350,351 shares in the company, 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 can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 3,750,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.00, for a total value of $33,750,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 4,795,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,158,006. This represents a 43.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of Viasat by 7.9% in the third quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 40,800 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $487,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its holdings in Viasat by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 48,125 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $574,000 after buying an additional 3,978 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Viasat by 26.4% during the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 21,402 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after acquiring an additional 4,468 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Viasat by 35.2% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 28,711 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $343,000 after acquiring an additional 7,477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Viasat by 88.0% in the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 10,950 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $131,000 after purchasing an additional 5,126 shares during the period. 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.