Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $25.17.

VSAT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Viasat from $30.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of Viasat in a research report on Monday, June 17th. StockNews.com cut shares of Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on Viasat from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Viasat from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 18th.

Viasat Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VSAT opened at $13.57 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.55 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 2.78 and a current ratio of 3.08. Viasat has a fifty-two week low of $11.76 and a fifty-two week high of $29.11. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.55.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last posted 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. Viasat had a negative return on equity of 19.76% and a negative net margin of 22.13%. The company had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.83) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Viasat will post -1.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Viasat

In related news, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 2,811,442 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.90, for a total value of $55,947,695.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,545,334 shares in the company, valued at $170,052,146.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viasat

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Viasat in the second quarter worth about $61,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in Viasat by 63.6% in the 2nd 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. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN raised its holdings in Viasat by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 3,449,281 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $43,806,000 after acquiring an additional 36,681 shares during the period. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Viasat during the second quarter worth $319,000. Finally, Algert Global LLC bought a new position in shares of Viasat in the second quarter worth $214,000. 86.05% of the stock is currently owned by 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.