Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the six research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $18.33.

VSAT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Viasat from $31.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 20th. StockNews.com cut shares of Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 31st. Barclays reduced 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Viasat from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $29.00 to $15.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on Viasat from $28.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viasat

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. National Bank of Canada FI bought a new position in shares of Viasat in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viasat during the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in Viasat in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Viasat by 63.7% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,623 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 1,021 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted 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 acquiring an additional 1,772 shares during the last quarter. 86.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Viasat Price Performance

NASDAQ VSAT opened at $9.41 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.21 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.02 and a beta of 1.37. 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 business’s fifty day moving average is $10.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.26. Viasat has a 1 year low of $6.69 and a 1 year high of $29.11.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.07) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.54) by ($0.53). The company 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($6.16) earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Viasat will post -2.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.