Viasat’s (VSAT) “Market Perform” Rating Reaffirmed at William Blair

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT)‘s stock had its “market perform” rating reissued by William Blair in a note issued to investors on Friday,RTT News reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Barclays cut their price objective on Viasat from $24.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 price objective on shares of Viasat in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Viasat from $26.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on Viasat in a report on Friday, January 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $12.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viasat has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.43.

Viasat Stock Performance

VSAT stock traded up $1.83 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $11.35. The stock had a trading volume of 4,314,913 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,133,980. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.59 and a beta of 1.35. 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. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.23) earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Viasat will post -2.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Viasat news, EVP Mark J. Miller sold 3,564 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.21, for a total value of $32,824.44. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 350,351 shares in the company, valued at $3,226,732.71. This trade represents a 1.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viasat

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of Viasat by 63.7% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,623 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 1,021 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Viasat by 75.3% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,950 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 1,267 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of Viasat by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 63,656 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $760,000 after buying an additional 1,584 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Viasat by 176.3% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,777 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 1,772 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank increased its holdings in shares of Viasat by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 26,172 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $312,000 after buying an additional 2,218 shares during the last quarter. 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.