Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold” Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on VSAT. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Viasat from $26.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective on shares of Viasat in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Viasat from $24.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on Viasat in a research note on Friday, January 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $12.00 price target on the stock. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Viasat in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.43.

Viasat Stock Up 0.5 %

VSAT stock opened at $9.31 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.80 and a quick ratio of 1.60. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.37. Viasat has a 12 month low of $6.69 and a 12 month high of $26.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.20 billion, a PE ratio of -2.77 and a beta of 1.35.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.23) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.53) by ($0.70). Viasat had a negative net margin of 9.49% and a negative return on equity of 8.37%. Equities analysts expect that Viasat will post -0.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Mark J. Miller sold 3,564 shares of Viasat stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.21, for a total transaction of $32,824.44. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 350,351 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,226,732.71. The trade was a 1.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 3,750,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.00, for a total value of $33,750,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 4,795,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,158,006. This represents a 43.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viasat

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VSAT. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its position in Viasat by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 40,800 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $487,000 after acquiring an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in shares of Viasat by 9.0% during the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 48,125 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $574,000 after purchasing an additional 3,978 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Viasat by 26.4% in the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 21,402 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 4,468 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Viasat by 35.2% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 28,711 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 7,477 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Viasat by 88.0% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 10,950 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $131,000 after buying an additional 5,126 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.