Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Rating Increased to Outperform at Raymond James Financial

Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Raymond James Financial currently has $52.00 target price on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on VSAT. Wall Street Zen upgraded Viasat from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $23.00 price objective (up previously from $10.00) on shares of Viasat in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Viasat from $10.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viasat in a research note on Wednesday, August 27th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Viasat from $16.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viasat presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.88.

Viasat Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VSAT opened at $36.98 on Monday. Viasat has a 1 year low of $6.69 and a 1 year high of $43.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.97 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.00 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s 50-day moving average is $33.51 and its 200 day moving average is $22.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 2.11 and a quick ratio of 1.87.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by $0.20. Viasat had a negative net margin of 13.11% and a negative return on equity of 6.37%. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.23) earnings per share. Viasat’s quarterly revenue was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Viasat will post -0.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Richard A. Baldridge sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.00, for a total value of $3,100,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 197,161 shares in the company, valued at $6,111,991. The trade was a 33.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of VSAT. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in Viasat by 29.8% during the first quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 274,250 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,858,000 after purchasing an additional 63,020 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC grew its position in Viasat by 746.4% in the 2nd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 13,567 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $198,000 after purchasing an additional 11,964 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC raised its stake in Viasat by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 16,673 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $174,000 after buying an additional 1,700 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Viasat by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 427,004 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,449,000 after buying an additional 13,882 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Viasat by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,646,644 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $152,618,000 after buying an additional 872,784 shares during the last quarter. 86.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.