Traders Buy High Volume of Put Options on Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT)

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 4,237 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 82% compared to the typical volume of 2,322 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viasat

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VSAT. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its stake in Viasat by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 51,832 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,449,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC grew its position in shares of Viasat by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 50,290 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,406,000 after acquiring an additional 597 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Viasat by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 37,800 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $480,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in Viasat by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 16,455 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $209,000 after purchasing an additional 667 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP grew its position in Viasat by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 13,137 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $238,000 after purchasing an additional 707 shares during the last quarter. 86.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Viasat Trading Down 0.6 %

VSAT stock traded down $0.10 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $16.64. 871,780 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,612,173. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.09 billion, a PE ratio of -1.91 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 3.08 and a quick ratio of 2.78. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $15.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.29. Viasat has a 52-week low of $11.76 and a 52-week high of $31.83.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.26) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.42) by $0.16. Viasat had a negative net margin of 22.13% and a negative return on equity of 19.76%. The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.83) earnings per share. Viasat’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Viasat will post -1.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on VSAT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Viasat from $30.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 31st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Viasat from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on Viasat from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Viasat from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Viasat from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viasat currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.17.

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.