Brokerages Set Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) PT at $37.63

Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the nine research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $41.2857.

Several research firms have commented on VSAT. Morgan Stanley set a $51.00 target price on Viasat in a research note on Friday, January 16th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viasat in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Viasat from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, November 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Viasat from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $23.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Viasat in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark D. Dankberg sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.34, for a total transaction of $4,034,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,434,993 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $57,887,617.62. This represents a 6.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $100,246.80. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 27,831 shares in the company, valued at $1,003,585.86. This trade represents a 9.08% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 356,529 shares of company stock worth $13,105,888. Insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Viasat

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VSAT. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Viasat during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in Viasat by 6,815.4% during the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 899 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 886 shares during the period. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new position in Viasat during the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Viasat during the second quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management bought a new stake in Viasat in the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

Viasat Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VSAT opened at $45.04 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $37.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.11. The firm has a market cap of $6.09 billion, a PE ratio of -11.26 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. Viasat has a 1-year low of $7.36 and a 1-year high of $46.43.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, November 8th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.09 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. Viasat had a negative return on equity of 3.65% and a negative net margin of 11.40%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.23) earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Viasat will post -0.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Viasat

Viasat, Inc (NASDAQ: VSAT) provides high‐capacity satellite broadband and wireless communications services to consumer, commercial and government customers worldwide. The company designs and operates satellite systems and network infrastructure to deliver secure, high-speed connectivity across remote and underserved regions, as well as managed networking solutions for enterprises and public sector agencies.

Viasat’s product offerings include residential and enterprise satellite internet services, in-flight connectivity for commercial airlines and business jets, and secure networking platforms tailored to defense and intelligence users.