Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Sell

StockNews.com lowered shares of Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on VSAT. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 target price on shares of Viasat in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Viasat from $26.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Viasat in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on Viasat in a research report on Friday, January 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $12.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Viasat from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $15.57.

Viasat Stock Performance

VSAT opened at $8.77 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.61 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.80 and a quick ratio of 1.60. Viasat has a 1-year low of $6.69 and a 1-year high of $26.70. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $9.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.97.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.23) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.53) by ($0.70). Viasat had a negative return on equity of 8.37% and a negative net margin of 9.49%. Research analysts predict that Viasat will post -0.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Viasat

In other news, EVP Mark J. Miller sold 3,564 shares of the firm’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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 350,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,226,732.71. This trade represents a 1.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 3,750,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.00, for a total value of $33,750,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 4,795,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,158,006. This trade represents a 43.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Viasat

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VSAT. Algert Global LLC raised its holdings in shares of Viasat by 361.3% during the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 77,880 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $930,000 after acquiring an additional 60,998 shares in the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Viasat during the third quarter worth $710,000. Everett Harris & Co. CA purchased a new stake in shares of Viasat during the fourth quarter worth $1,111,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Viasat by 115.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 282,475 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $3,373,000 after acquiring an additional 151,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PDT Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Viasat during the third quarter worth $1,980,000. 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.