Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has assigned a hold recommendation, six have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $77.1250.

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Viasat from $58.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Barclays set a $49.00 target price on shares of Viasat in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Raymond James Financial set a $74.00 target price on shares of Viasat and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. New Street Research assumed coverage on shares of Viasat in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $100.00 target price for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and set a $97.00 target price on shares of Viasat in a research report on Monday, June 1st.

Insider Activity at Viasat

In other Viasat news, CFO Garrett L. Chase sold 4,000 shares of Viasat stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.50, for a total transaction of $290,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 38,239 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,772,327.50. The trade was a 9.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Richard A. Baldridge sold 27,122 shares of Viasat stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.74, for a total transaction of $1,945,732.28. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 213,355 shares in the company, valued at $15,306,087.70. This represents a 11.28% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 434,275 shares of company stock valued at $28,359,079 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viasat

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Viasat by 8.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,962,958 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $497,015,000 after purchasing an additional 1,289,024 shares in the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN lifted its holdings in Viasat by 15.8% during the second quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 5,845,100 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $85,338,000 after purchasing an additional 796,349 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Viasat by 18.2% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,789,539 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $219,346,000 after purchasing an additional 738,656 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Viasat by 38.5% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,713,581 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $108,808,000 after purchasing an additional 1,033,194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Viasat by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,328,854 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $115,266,000 after purchasing an additional 273,369 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

Viasat Stock Performance

Shares of VSAT stock opened at $64.13 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $67.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $51.66. Viasat has a 52 week low of $12.40 and a 52 week high of $89.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.76 billion, a PE ratio of -221.14 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a quick ratio of 2.19, a current ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.32 by ($0.34). The business had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. Viasat had a negative net margin of 0.73% and a positive return on equity of 1.58%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.02) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Viasat will post -0.35 earnings per share 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.