Brokerages Set Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) Target Price at $20.83

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the six ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $20.83.

VSAT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of 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 research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Bank of America cut their target price on Viasat from $31.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on Viasat from $28.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 31st.

Insider Activity at Viasat

In other Viasat news, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 2,811,442 shares of Viasat stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.90, for a total value of $55,947,695.80. Following the transaction, 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Viasat

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in Viasat by 49.6% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,025 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $112,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Viasat by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 391,544 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,083,000 after buying an additional 4,236 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of Viasat by 20.0% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 64,453 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,166,000 after buying an additional 10,747 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its holdings in Viasat by 2.0% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 65,583 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,186,000 after acquiring an additional 1,265 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Viasat by 11.2% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,145 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $328,000 after acquiring an additional 1,833 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

Viasat Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of VSAT opened at $9.50 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 2.78 and a current ratio of 3.08. Viasat has a 1 year low of $9.37 and a 1 year high of $29.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.21 billion, a PE ratio of -1.16 and a beta of 1.34. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $12.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.07.

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