Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Shares Up 2.9%

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) shares shot up 2.9% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $15.82 and last traded at $15.80. 205,497 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 1,094,217 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.35.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Barclays decreased their price target on Viasat from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viasat currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.17.

Viasat Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 2.46, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The company’s 50-day moving average is $18.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.59. The company has a market capitalization of $1.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.33.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.99) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.14) by ($0.85). The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.12 billion. Viasat had a return on equity of 4.52% and a net margin of 6.01%. Equities analysts anticipate that Viasat, Inc. will post -1.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Viasat

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VSAT. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Viasat in the first quarter worth approximately $232,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Viasat by 5.6% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 119,001 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $5,807,000 after buying an additional 6,265 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Viasat by 1.1% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 654,115 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $31,920,000 after buying an additional 7,336 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Viasat in the first quarter worth approximately $215,000. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Viasat by 35.0% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 48,033 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,344,000 after buying an additional 12,442 shares in the last quarter. 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.