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

Shares of Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) traded up 8.1% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $7.58 and last traded at $7.49. 1,298,690 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 28% from the average session volume of 1,815,052 shares. The stock had previously closed at $6.93.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on shares of Viasat from $28.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 31st. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Viasat from $24.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Viasat from $31.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Viasat from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $29.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Viasat presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.33.

Viasat Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $10.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.44.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.07) earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($6.16) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Viasat, Inc. will post -2.38 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viasat

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Viasat by 5.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,508,056 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,950,000 after purchasing an additional 122,472 shares in the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its holdings in Viasat by 28.1% in the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 4,419,223 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $52,766,000 after purchasing an additional 969,942 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI acquired a new position in Viasat in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Viasat by 6.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,445,811 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $53,083,000 after purchasing an additional 276,376 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Centiva Capital LP acquired a new position in Viasat in the third quarter valued at approximately $328,000. 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.