Barclays Issues Positive Forecast for Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Stock Price

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) had its price objective raised by research analysts at Barclays from $9.00 to $10.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Barclays‘s target price indicates a potential upside of 14.03% from the stock’s current price.

VSAT has been the subject of several other research reports. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 price objective on shares of Viasat in a research report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of Viasat from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on Viasat in a report on Friday, January 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $12.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Viasat from $26.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Viasat in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viasat has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.57.

Viasat Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VSAT opened at $8.77 on Wednesday. Viasat has a 12 month low of $6.69 and a 12 month high of $26.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.80 and a quick ratio of 1.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a PE ratio of -2.61 and a beta of 1.35. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $9.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $10.97.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.23) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.53) by ($0.70). Viasat had a negative net margin of 9.49% and a negative return on equity of 8.37%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Viasat will post -0.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Viasat

In other Viasat news, EVP Mark J. Miller sold 3,564 shares of Viasat stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.21, for a total value of $32,824.44. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 350,351 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,226,732.71. This trade represents a 1.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 3,750,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.00, for a total value of $33,750,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 4,795,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,158,006. This trade represents a 43.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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 VSAT. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Viasat by 63.7% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,623 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,021 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC increased its position in Viasat by 39.0% during the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 4,473 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,255 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Viasat by 75.3% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,950 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 1,267 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of Viasat by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 63,656 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $760,000 after buying an additional 1,584 shares during the period. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Viasat by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 72,132 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $614,000 after buying an additional 2,050 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

Viasat Company Profile

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.