Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Shares Up 8.1% – Here’s What Happened

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT)’s share price was up 8.1% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $7.58 and last traded at $7.49. Approximately 1,298,690 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 28% from the average daily volume of 1,815,052 shares. The stock had previously closed at $6.93.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VSAT. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Viasat from $31.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Viasat from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $29.00 to $15.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Viasat from $24.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com lowered Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 31st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC decreased 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.33.

Viasat Price Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average price is $10.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.38. The firm has a market cap of $1.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.40 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viasat

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Viasat by 5.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,508,056 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,950,000 after buying an additional 122,472 shares in the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN grew its stake in shares of Viasat by 28.1% in the 3rd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 4,419,223 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $52,766,000 after buying an additional 969,942 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI bought a new position in shares of Viasat during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Viasat by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,445,811 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $53,083,000 after acquiring an additional 276,376 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Centiva Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Viasat in the third quarter valued at about $328,000. 86.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.