Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) shares gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $8.89, but opened at $9.67. Viasat shares last traded at $10.71, with a volume of 1,768,715 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VSAT has been the topic of several research reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 target price on shares of Viasat in a report on Tuesday. Barclays cut their price objective on Viasat from $24.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.33.

Viasat Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $8.82 and its 200 day moving average is $12.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The company has a market cap of $1.53 billion, a PE ratio of -3.76 and a beta of 1.34.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.54) by ($0.53). Viasat had a negative net margin of 8.73% and a negative return on equity of 7.58%. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($6.16) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Viasat, Inc. will post -2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viasat news, EVP Mark J. Miller sold 3,564 shares of Viasat stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.21, for a total transaction of $32,824.44. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 350,351 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,226,732.71. The trade was a 1.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VSAT. National Bank of Canada FI acquired a new position in Viasat during the third quarter worth $27,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Viasat in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. KBC Group NV increased 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 buying an additional 1,021 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Viasat by 176.3% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,777 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 1,772 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Viasat in the 2nd quarter valued at $61,000. 86.05% of the stock is currently 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.