Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Shares Down 9% – Here’s What Happened

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) was down 9% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $8.49 and last traded at $8.63. Approximately 2,029,130 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 15% from the average daily volume of 1,771,231 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.48.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VSAT shares. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on shares of Viasat from $28.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Viasat from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $29.00 to $15.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Viasat from $31.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.83.

Viasat Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 2.78, a current ratio of 3.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The firm has a market cap of $1.15 billion, a PE ratio of -2.77 and a beta of 1.37. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $12.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $14.92.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.26) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.42) by $0.16. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. Viasat had a negative net margin of 8.73% and a negative return on equity of 7.54%. Viasat’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.83) EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Viasat, Inc. will post -1.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Viasat

In other Viasat news, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 2,811,442 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 8,545,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $170,052,146.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of VSAT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Viasat by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,532,375 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $226,711,000 after buying an additional 348,166 shares in the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its holdings in Viasat by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 3,449,281 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $43,806,000 after buying an additional 36,681 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 750,904 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Viasat by 25.7% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 796,368 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,114,000 after acquiring an additional 162,804 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cove Street Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Viasat by 17.7% in the first quarter. Cove Street Capital LLC now owns 766,753 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $13,871,000 after acquiring an additional 115,224 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

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.