Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Downgraded to Neutral at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a research report released on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $15.00 price target on the communications equipment provider’s stock, down from their previous price target of $29.00.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on VSAT. StockNews.com lowered Viasat from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Saturday, August 31st. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Viasat from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Viasat from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Barclays cut their price target on Viasat from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Viasat from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Viasat presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $22.33.

Viasat Price Performance

Shares of VSAT opened at $12.77 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $16.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.61 billion, a PE ratio of -1.45 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a current ratio of 3.08, a quick ratio of 2.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. Viasat has a twelve month low of $11.76 and a twelve month high of $29.11.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.26) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.42) by $0.16. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. Viasat had a negative return on equity of 19.76% and a negative net margin of 22.13%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 41.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.83) EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Viasat will post -1.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viasat

In other Viasat news, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 2,811,442 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.90, for a total value of $55,947,695.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,545,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $170,052,146.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viasat

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its stake in Viasat by 1.0% during the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its stake in Viasat by 1.6% during the second 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. raised its stake in Viasat by 4.2% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 16,455 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $209,000 after acquiring an additional 667 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP raised its stake in Viasat by 5.7% during the first quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 13,137 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $238,000 after acquiring an additional 707 shares during the period. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in Viasat by 8.3% during the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 13,044 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $166,000 after acquiring an additional 997 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

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.