Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Trading Down 7% – What’s Next?

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) shares traded down 7% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $8.20 and last traded at $8.31. 1,066,235 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 46% from the average session volume of 1,966,513 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.94.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on shares of Viasat from $28.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Viasat from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $29.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Bank of America cut their price objective on Viasat from $31.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Viasat from $24.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Viasat currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.33.

Viasat Trading Down 6.6 %

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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $9.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.07 billion, a PE ratio of -2.68 and a beta of 1.34.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last announced 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 business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($6.16) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Viasat, Inc. will post -2.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Viasat

In other Viasat news, EVP Mark J. Miller sold 3,564 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,226,732.71. This trade represents a 1.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Viasat

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. National Bank of Canada FI purchased a new stake in Viasat in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Viasat in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Viasat in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Viasat by 63.7% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,623 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,021 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Viasat by 176.3% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,777 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,772 shares during the last quarter. 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.