Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Sets New 1-Year Low – Time to Sell?

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT)’s share price hit a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $9.98 and last traded at $9.99, with a volume of 131171 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $10.22.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VSAT has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Viasat from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $29.00 to $15.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Viasat from $31.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 20th. StockNews.com cut shares of Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 31st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of Viasat from $28.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.83.

Viasat Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 3.08, a quick ratio of 2.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The company has a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.25 and a beta of 1.34. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $12.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.15.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.42) by $0.16. Viasat had a negative return on equity of 19.76% and a negative net margin of 22.13%. The company had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.83) EPS. Viasat’s revenue was up 41.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Viasat, Inc. will post -1.5 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 2,811,442 shares of the firm’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 in the company, valued at approximately $170,052,146.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viasat

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VSAT. Amalgamated Bank raised its stake in Viasat by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 26,172 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $312,000 after acquiring an additional 2,218 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Viasat by 88.0% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 10,950 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $131,000 after purchasing an additional 5,126 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Viasat by 35.2% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 28,711 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 7,477 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Viasat by 26.4% during the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 21,402 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $256,000 after buying an additional 4,468 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its holdings in shares of Viasat by 9.0% in the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 48,125 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $574,000 after acquiring an additional 3,978 shares during the period. 86.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.