Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Stock Price Down 7.7% – Should You Sell?

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) was down 7.7% on Monday . The stock traded as low as $8.11 and last traded at $8.17. Approximately 643,589 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 3,019,662 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.85.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on VSAT. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Viasat from $31.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Viasat from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $29.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on Viasat from $28.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Viasat from $24.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. One 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Viasat currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.33.

Viasat Price Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average price is $8.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.61. 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 company has a market cap of $964.24 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.41 and a beta of 1.34.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($6.16) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Viasat, Inc. will post -2.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Viasat

In other Viasat news, EVP Mark J. Miller sold 3,564 shares of Viasat stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,226,732.71. The trade was a 1.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viasat

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of VSAT. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 969,942 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Viasat by 1,145.1% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 816,478 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $10,369,000 after purchasing an additional 750,904 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Viasat by 6.6% in 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 buying an additional 276,376 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Viasat by 63.6% in the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 644,155 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $8,181,000 after buying an additional 250,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PDT Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Viasat in the third quarter valued at $1,980,000. 86.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.