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

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT)’s stock price was up 5.9% on Monday . The company traded as high as $9.35 and last traded at $9.31. Approximately 660,674 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 66% from the average daily volume of 1,961,802 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.79.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Viasat Trading Up 3.4 %

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $9.42 and its 200-day moving average is $13.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The company has a market capitalization of $1.17 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.91 and a beta of 1.34.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last released 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. Viasat had a negative net margin of 8.73% and a negative return on equity of 7.58%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($6.16) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Viasat, Inc. will post -2.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viasat

In other news, 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 350,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,226,732.71. The trade was a 1.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VSAT. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Viasat by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 400,320 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,780,000 after purchasing an additional 24,889 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Viasat by 5.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,508,056 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,950,000 after acquiring an additional 122,472 shares in the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN raised its holdings in Viasat by 28.1% in the 3rd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 4,419,223 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $52,766,000 after acquiring an additional 969,942 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI bought a new position in Viasat in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in Viasat by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,445,811 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $53,083,000 after purchasing an additional 276,376 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.