Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Shares Down 3.9% – Here’s Why

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) shares traded down 3.9% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $11.11 and last traded at $11.11. 1,071,761 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 38% from the average session volume of 1,729,765 shares. The stock had previously closed at $11.56.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Viasat Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.27 and a beta of 1.34. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $14.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.52. The company has a quick ratio of 2.78, a current ratio of 3.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.26) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.83) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 41.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Viasat, Inc. will post -1.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viasat

In other news, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 2,811,442 shares of Viasat stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.90, for a total value of $55,947,695.80. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Viasat

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased 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 during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Viasat by 1,145.1% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 816,478 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $10,369,000 after acquiring an additional 750,904 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Viasat by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,184,209 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $340,549,000 after acquiring an additional 286,872 shares in the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new stake in Viasat during the second quarter valued at $509,000. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its stake in Viasat by 1,752.3% in the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 159,355 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,883,000 after purchasing an additional 150,752 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.