JPMorgan Chase & Co. Downgrades Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) to Neutral

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) was downgraded by research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have a $15.00 price objective on the communications equipment provider’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $29.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price would suggest a potential upside of 19.43% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of Viasat in a report on Monday, June 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Viasat from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Viasat from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 31st. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Viasat from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viasat has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.83.

Viasat Price Performance

NASDAQ:VSAT opened at $12.56 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.58 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.43 and a beta of 1.35. Viasat has a one year low of $11.76 and a one year high of $29.11. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $17.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 3.08 and a quick ratio of 2.78.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.26) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.42) by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. Viasat had a negative net margin of 22.13% and a negative return on equity of 19.76%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.83) EPS. Analysts anticipate that Viasat will post -1.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viasat news, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 2,811,442 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.90, for a total transaction of $55,947,695.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,545,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $170,052,146.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Viasat by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,532,375 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $226,711,000 after acquiring an additional 348,166 shares during the period. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN raised its position in shares of Viasat by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 3,449,281 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $43,806,000 after acquiring an additional 36,681 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Viasat by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 920,998 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $25,742,000 after acquiring an additional 118,902 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Viasat by 1,145.1% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 816,478 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,369,000 after acquiring an additional 750,904 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Viasat by 25.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 796,368 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,114,000 after acquiring an additional 162,804 shares during the period. 86.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.