Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $9.78, but opened at $10.33. Viasat shares last traded at $10.60, with a volume of 611,553 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VSAT. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 price objective on shares of Viasat in a research note on Monday, February 10th. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Viasat in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised Viasat from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Viasat from $26.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viasat has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $14.57.

Viasat Stock Up 8.7 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.80 and a quick ratio of 1.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.37 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.17 and a beta of 1.38. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.05.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.23) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.53) by ($0.70). Viasat had a negative net margin of 9.49% and a negative return on equity of 8.37%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Viasat, Inc. will post -0.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 3,750,000 shares of Viasat stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,795,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,158,006. The trade was a 43.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viasat

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VSAT. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Viasat by 63.7% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,623 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,021 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in Viasat by 6.1% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 66,227 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $791,000 after purchasing an additional 3,807 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Viasat in the third quarter worth approximately $322,000. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in Viasat in the third quarter worth approximately $710,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Viasat by 8.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,523,465 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $18,190,000 after purchasing an additional 115,909 shares in the last quarter. 86.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.