Viasat Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:VSAT)

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders bought 4,060 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 153% compared to the average volume of 1,607 put options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VSAT. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its stake in shares of Viasat by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 51,832 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,449,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in Viasat by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 50,290 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,406,000 after acquiring an additional 597 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Viasat by 1.6% in the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 37,800 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $480,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP boosted its stake in shares of Viasat by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 13,137 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $238,000 after purchasing an additional 707 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viasat by 303.6% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,009 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 759 shares during the last quarter. 86.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VSAT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on Viasat from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Viasat from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Viasat from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Viasat from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Viasat from $30.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Viasat has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.17.

Viasat Price Performance

Viasat stock opened at $18.88 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.38 billion, a PE ratio of -2.15 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.44. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $15.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.80. Viasat has a one year low of $11.76 and a one year high of $31.83.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 21st. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.72) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.60) by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. Viasat had a negative net margin of 24.95% and a negative return on equity of 19.76%. As a group, research analysts expect that Viasat will post -1.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.