Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $15.57.

VSAT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 target price on shares of Viasat in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Viasat from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Viasat in a research note on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Viasat in a research note on Friday, January 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $12.00 target price for the company.

Viasat Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VSAT opened at $8.35 on Tuesday. Viasat has a twelve month low of $6.69 and a twelve month high of $26.70. The firm has a market cap of $1.08 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.49 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a 50 day moving average of $9.31 and a 200 day moving average of $10.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Viasat will post -0.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Mark J. Miller sold 3,564 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.21, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 1.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 3,750,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.00, for a total transaction of $33,750,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 4,795,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,158,006. The trade was a 43.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Algert Global LLC boosted its holdings in Viasat by 361.3% in the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 77,880 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $930,000 after buying an additional 60,998 shares during the period. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new position in Viasat in the 3rd quarter worth $710,000. Everett Harris & Co. CA bought a new position in Viasat in the 4th quarter worth $1,111,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Viasat by 115.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 282,475 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $3,373,000 after buying an additional 151,590 shares during the period. Finally, PDT Partners LLC bought a new position in Viasat in the 3rd quarter worth $1,980,000. Institutional investors 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.