Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Shares Up 6.7% – Should You Buy?

Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) shot up 6.7% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $35.79 and last traded at $35.5910. 974,676 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 3,469,316 shares. The stock had previously closed at $33.36.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on VSAT shares. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $23.00 price objective (up from $10.00) on shares of Viasat in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Viasat from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, November 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Viasat from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $23.00 to $50.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viasat in a research note on Wednesday, August 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Viasat from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Viasat has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.75.

Viasat Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $4.83 billion, a PE ratio of -7.73 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $34.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last posted its earnings results on Saturday, November 8th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11) by $0.20. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. Viasat had a negative net margin of 13.11% and a negative return on equity of 6.37%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.23) EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Viasat Inc. will post -0.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other 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 transaction of $3,100,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 197,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,111,991. This represents a 33.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Viasat

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Viasat by 8.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,962,958 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $497,015,000 after acquiring an additional 1,289,024 shares during the period. OCO Capital Partners L.P. raised its holdings in Viasat by 60.0% in the 2nd quarter. OCO Capital Partners L.P. now owns 6,000,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $87,600,000 after purchasing an additional 2,250,000 shares during the period. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN lifted its position 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. Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its holdings in Viasat by 6.8% during the second quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 5,541,636 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $80,908,000 after purchasing an additional 351,404 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Viasat by 38.5% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,713,581 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $108,808,000 after buying an additional 1,033,194 shares in the last quarter. 86.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.