Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Trading Down 7% – Here’s Why

Shares of Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) were down 7% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $8.20 and last traded at $8.31. Approximately 1,066,235 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 46% from the average daily volume of 1,966,513 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.94.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on VSAT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Viasat from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $29.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Viasat from $24.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Viasat from $31.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on Viasat from $28.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viasat presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.33.

Viasat Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.44. The stock has a market cap of $1.09 billion, a PE ratio of -2.73 and a beta of 1.34. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $9.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.86.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.07) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.54) by ($0.53). Viasat had a negative net margin of 8.73% and a negative return on equity of 7.58%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($6.16) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Viasat, Inc. will post -2.38 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viasat news, EVP Mark J. Miller sold 3,564 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.21, for a total value of $32,824.44. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 350,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,226,732.71. The trade was a 1.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Algert Global LLC grew its position in Viasat by 361.3% during the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 77,880 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $930,000 after acquiring an additional 60,998 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Viasat by 63.6% during the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 644,155 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $8,181,000 after purchasing an additional 250,389 shares during the period. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new position in shares of Viasat in the third quarter worth approximately $710,000. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Viasat by 1,145.1% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 816,478 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $10,369,000 after buying an additional 750,904 shares during the period. Finally, Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Viasat by 40.4% during the 3rd quarter. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC now owns 191,304 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,284,000 after buying an additional 55,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

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.