Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $15.43.

Several research analysts have commented on VSAT shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Viasat from $26.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 price target on shares of Viasat in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays dropped their price target on Viasat from $24.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Viasat in a research report on Friday, January 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $12.00 price target on the stock.

Viasat Stock Up 3.1 %

Shares of Viasat stock opened at $9.52 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.05 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Viasat has a 52-week low of $6.69 and a 52-week high of $26.70. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.98.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last issued 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 net margin of 8.73% and a negative return on equity of 7.58%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Viasat will post -2.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Mark J. Miller sold 3,564 shares of the business’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 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Viasat

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Viasat by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,445,811 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $53,083,000 after buying an additional 276,376 shares in the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its stake in Viasat by 28.1% in the 3rd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 4,419,223 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $52,766,000 after buying an additional 969,942 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Viasat by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,508,056 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,950,000 after buying an additional 122,472 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Viasat by 23.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,887,537 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $16,063,000 after purchasing an additional 364,072 shares in the last quarter. Finally, South Dakota Investment Council boosted its stake in Viasat by 98.5% in the fourth quarter. South Dakota Investment Council now owns 675,378 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $5,747,000 after purchasing an additional 335,082 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.