Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Shares Gap Down to $15.02

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $15.02, but opened at $14.13. Viasat shares last traded at $12.79, with a volume of 1,484,885 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com cut Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 31st. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Viasat from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Viasat from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Viasat from $30.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of Viasat from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $25.17.

Viasat Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $1.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.46 and a beta of 1.35. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $17.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 2.78 and a current ratio of 3.08.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Trading of Viasat

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its position in Viasat by 1.0% in 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 lifted its stake 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 valued at $480,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Viasat by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 16,455 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 667 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP increased its position in shares of Viasat by 5.7% during 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. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in Viasat by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 13,044 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $166,000 after buying an additional 997 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.