Cantor Fitzgerald Initiates Coverage on Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT)

Equities researchers at Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) in a report released on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The firm set a “neutral” rating and a $12.00 price target on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s target price suggests a potential upside of 4.35% from the stock’s previous close.

VSAT has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Viasat from $24.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 price objective on shares of Viasat in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Viasat currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.43.

Viasat Stock Performance

VSAT stock opened at $11.50 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $9.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $12.35. The firm has a market cap of $1.48 billion, a PE ratio of -3.69 and a beta of 1.34. 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 has a 1-year low of $6.69 and a 1-year high of $26.70.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.07) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.54) by ($0.53). Viasat had a negative net margin of 8.73% and a negative return on equity of 7.58%. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($6.16) EPS. Viasat’s revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Viasat will post -2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Viasat

In related news, EVP Mark J. Miller sold 3,564 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.21, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VSAT. National Bank of Canada FI purchased a new position in shares of Viasat during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Viasat during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Viasat by 63.7% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,623 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,021 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Viasat by 176.3% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,777 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 1,772 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in Viasat during the 2nd quarter valued at about $61,000. 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.