Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Stock Price Down 6% – Here’s What Happened

Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT)’s share price was down 6% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $33.70 and last traded at $33.8880. Approximately 413,113 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 3,473,089 shares. The stock had previously closed at $36.06.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VSAT has been the subject of several research reports. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Viasat from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, November 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating on shares of Viasat in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Viasat from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $50.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Viasat in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Viasat from $25.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Viasat currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.75.

Viasat Trading Up 1.3%

The stock has a market cap of $4.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.69 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s 50 day moving average is $34.21 and its 200 day moving average is $23.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 2.11 and a quick ratio of 1.87.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, November 8th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11) by $0.20. The company had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.15 billion. Viasat had a negative return on equity of 6.37% and a negative net margin of 13.11%.Viasat’s quarterly revenue was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.23) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Viasat Inc. will post -0.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Viasat

In related news, insider Benjamin Edward Palmer sold 2,780 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.06, for a total transaction of $100,246.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 27,831 shares in the company, valued at $1,003,585.86. The trade was a 9.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Richard A. Baldridge sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.00, for a total value of $3,100,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 197,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,111,991. This trade represents a 33.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 2.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VSAT. Harvest Investment Services LLC purchased a new stake in Viasat in the third quarter valued at $870,000. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its position in shares of Viasat by 39.7% during the third quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 23,492 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $688,000 after purchasing an additional 6,673 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its position in shares of Viasat by 42.6% during the third quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 137,402 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $3,902,000 after purchasing an additional 41,055 shares in the last quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Viasat in the 3rd quarter valued at about $447,000. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its position in shares of Viasat by 4,617.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 7,500 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $220,000 after purchasing an additional 7,341 shares during the period. 86.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.