Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Trading Up 6.1% – Here’s What Happened

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT)’s share price was up 6.1% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $10.08 and last traded at $10.08. Approximately 319,947 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 1,723,180 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.50.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VSAT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on shares of Viasat from $28.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Bank of America dropped their price target 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Viasat from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $29.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viasat presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.83.

Viasat Price Performance

The business’s 50 day moving average price is $12.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.07. The stock has a market cap of $1.27 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.23 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 3.08, a quick ratio of 2.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.42) by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. Viasat had a negative net margin of 22.13% and a negative return on equity of 19.76%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.83) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Viasat, Inc. will post -1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Viasat

In related news, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 2,811,442 shares of Viasat stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.90, for a total transaction of $55,947,695.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,545,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $170,052,146.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in Viasat in the second quarter worth about $29,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Viasat by 176.3% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,777 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 1,772 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Viasat in the second quarter worth approximately $61,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viasat in the third quarter worth approximately $63,000. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viasat in the second quarter worth approximately $67,000. 86.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.