Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Coverage Initiated at Cantor Fitzgerald

Research analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on shares of Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage set a “neutral” rating and a $12.00 price target on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s target price indicates a potential upside of 3.81% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on VSAT. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Viasat from $24.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective on shares of Viasat in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.43.

Viasat Price Performance

Shares of VSAT stock opened at $11.56 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $9.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.39. Viasat has a 52-week low of $6.69 and a 52-week high of $26.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.48 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.71 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) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.54) by ($0.53). The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. Viasat had a negative return on equity of 7.58% and a negative net margin of 8.73%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($6.16) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Viasat will post -2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 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 approximately $3,226,732.71. The trade was a 1.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viasat

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. National Bank of Canada FI purchased a new stake in shares of Viasat during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in Viasat during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Viasat by 63.7% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,623 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 1,021 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 1,772 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Viasat during the second quarter worth $61,000. 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.