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

Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the ten research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $37.6250.

VSAT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Viasat in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Viasat in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Viasat from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $23.00 to $50.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Viasat in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $23.00 target price (up previously from $10.00) on shares of Viasat in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st.

Insider Transactions at Viasat

In other news, CAO Shawn Lynn Duffy sold 51,480 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.38, for a total value of $1,872,842.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 6,021 shares in the company, valued at $219,043.98. This trade represents a 89.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Robert James Blair sold 2,269 shares of Viasat stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.61, for a total value of $80,799.09. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 68,519 shares in the company, valued at $2,439,961.59. This represents a 3.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 356,529 shares of company stock valued at $13,105,888. Insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viasat

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new position in Viasat in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,099,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Viasat during the 2nd quarter valued at $3,066,000. Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Viasat by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 5,541,636 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $80,908,000 after purchasing an additional 351,404 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Viasat in the second quarter worth $1,601,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Viasat during the second quarter valued at $201,000. Institutional investors own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

Viasat Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VSAT opened at $44.23 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $36.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.30. The company has a market cap of $5.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.06 and a beta of 1.39. Viasat has a 12 month low of $7.36 and a 12 month high of $46.43.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last posted its earnings results on Saturday, November 8th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by $0.20. The company had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.15 billion. Viasat had a negative return on equity of 3.65% and a negative net margin of 11.40%.Viasat’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.23) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Viasat will post -0.54 EPS for the current year.

About Viasat

Viasat, Inc (NASDAQ: VSAT) provides high‐capacity satellite broadband and wireless communications services to consumer, commercial and government customers worldwide. The company designs and operates satellite systems and network infrastructure to deliver secure, high-speed connectivity across remote and underserved regions, as well as managed networking solutions for enterprises and public sector agencies.

Viasat’s product offerings include residential and enterprise satellite internet services, in-flight connectivity for commercial airlines and business jets, and secure networking platforms tailored to defense and intelligence users.