Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Trading Up 9.4% – What’s Next?

Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) was up 9.4% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $41.60 and last traded at $42.1050. 1,316,087 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 6% from the average daily volume of 1,404,293 shares. The stock had previously closed at $38.50.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on VSAT shares. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on Viasat from $25.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Raymond James Financial upgraded Viasat from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $23.00 price target (up from $10.00) on shares of Viasat in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Viasat in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Viasat from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Viasat currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.75.

Viasat Stock Up 12.9%

The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.88 billion, a PE ratio of -10.87 and a beta of 1.39.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, November 8th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11) by $0.20. Viasat had a negative return on equity of 3.65% and a negative net margin of 11.40%.The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.23) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Viasat Inc. will post -0.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Benjamin Edward Palmer sold 2,780 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.06, for a total transaction of $100,246.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 27,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,003,585.86. This represents a 9.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark D. Dankberg sold 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.09, for a total transaction of $7,018,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,534,993 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,862,904.37. This represents a 11.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 256,529 shares of company stock worth $9,071,888 over the last ninety days. 2.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viasat

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Viasat by 15.9% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,387 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 327 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Viasat by 1.9% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 19,145 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $561,000 after acquiring an additional 361 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its position in Viasat by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 18,989 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $556,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares during the period. Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych PZU SA increased its position in Viasat by 22.6% during the 3rd quarter. Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych PZU SA now owns 3,250 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $95,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in Viasat by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 30,838 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $904,000 after purchasing an additional 710 shares in the last quarter. 86.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Viasat Company Profile

Viasat, Inc (NASDAQ: VSAT) provides high?capacity satellite broadband and wireless communications services to consumer, commercial and government customers worldwide. The company designs and operates satellite systems and network infrastructure to deliver secure, high-speed connectivity across remote and underserved regions, as well as managed networking solutions for enterprises and public sector agencies.

Viasat’s product offerings include residential and enterprise satellite internet services, in-flight connectivity for commercial airlines and business jets, and secure networking platforms tailored to defense and intelligence users.