Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Trading 6.5% Higher – Should You Buy?

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT)’s share price traded up 6.5% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $11.43 and last traded at $11.47. 2,914,832 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 39% from the average session volume of 4,787,993 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.77.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 target price on shares of Viasat in a research note on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Viasat in a research note on Friday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $12.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective 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. One equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Viasat presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.43.

Viasat Stock Down 0.5 %

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.36. The company has a market cap of $1.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.69 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.07) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($6.16) EPS. Viasat’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Viasat, Inc. will post -2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viasat

In other news, EVP Mark J. Miller sold 3,564 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 350,351 shares in the company, valued at $3,226,732.71. This trade represents a 1.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 Trading of Viasat

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Everett Harris & Co. CA purchased a new stake in shares of Viasat in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,111,000. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Viasat by 107.9% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 5,453 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 2,830 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Viasat by 38.9% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 47,484 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $404,000 after purchasing an additional 13,302 shares in the last quarter. M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Viasat during the 4th quarter valued at $105,000. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Viasat by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 26,324 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $224,000 after purchasing an additional 4,922 shares in the last quarter. 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.