Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Shares of Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $9.78, but opened at $10.33. Viasat shares last traded at $10.60, with a volume of 611,553 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on VSAT shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 price objective on shares of Viasat in a report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Viasat from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective 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 report on Friday, February 7th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viasat has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $14.57.

Viasat Stock Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $9.46 and a 200-day moving average of $10.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The company has a market cap of $1.37 billion, a PE ratio of -3.17 and a beta of 1.38.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viasat news, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 3,750,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now owns 4,795,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,158,006. The trade was a 43.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Viasat by 63.7% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,623 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 1,021 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its position in shares of Viasat by 39.0% during the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 4,473 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 1,255 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 1,267 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in shares of Viasat by 2.6% during 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 last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Viasat by 2.9% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.