Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Shares Down 5.6% – Should You Sell?

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) shares dropped 5.6% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $9.60 and last traded at $9.64. Approximately 898,578 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 4,411,075 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.22.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on VSAT shares. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Viasat from $24.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Viasat in a research note on Friday, January 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $12.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 target price on shares of Viasat in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.43.

Viasat Trading Up 4.1 %

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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.21. The firm has a market cap of $1.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.08 and a beta of 1.34.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.07) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.54) by ($0.53). Viasat had a negative net margin of 8.73% and a negative return on equity of 7.58%. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($6.16) EPS. Viasat’s revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Viasat, Inc. will post -2.62 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 firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 350,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,226,732.71. This trade represents a 1.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN grew its holdings in shares of Viasat by 28.1% during the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 4,419,223 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $52,766,000 after purchasing an additional 969,942 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in Viasat by 1,145.1% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 816,478 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,369,000 after purchasing an additional 750,904 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Viasat by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,445,811 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $53,083,000 after buying an additional 276,376 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Viasat in the 4th quarter worth $1,801,000. Finally, PDT Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Viasat during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,980,000. 86.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.