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

Shares of Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) rose 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 were traded 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 Analysts Forecast Growth

VSAT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Viasat from $31.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 20th. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Viasat from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $29.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 31st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of 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 assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viasat presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.33.

Viasat Stock Up 13.0 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.44. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $10.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.28.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.07) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.54) by ($0.53). The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. Viasat had a negative net margin of 8.73% and a negative return on equity of 7.58%. Viasat’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($6.16) earnings per share. Analysts expect that Viasat, Inc. will post -2.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viasat

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Viasat by 63.6% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 644,155 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $8,181,000 after acquiring an additional 250,389 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in Viasat by 1,145.1% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 816,478 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $10,369,000 after acquiring an additional 750,904 shares in the last quarter. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Viasat by 40.4% in the 3rd quarter. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC now owns 191,304 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,284,000 after acquiring an additional 55,000 shares in the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new stake in Viasat in the 2nd quarter worth $509,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Viasat by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,532,375 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $226,711,000 after acquiring an additional 348,166 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

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.