Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Trading Down 8.3% – What’s Next?

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) shares fell 8.3% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $8.86 and last traded at $8.90. 953,101 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 50% from the average session volume of 1,892,091 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.71.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on VSAT shares. Bank of America reduced their target price 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. Barclays lowered their price objective on Viasat from $24.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on Viasat from $28.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. StockNews.com downgraded Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Viasat from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $29.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. One equities 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.33.

Viasat Price Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $10.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.18. 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 company has a market cap of $1.10 billion, a PE ratio of -2.85 and a beta of 1.37.

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. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Viasat, Inc. will post -2.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viasat

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of VSAT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Viasat by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,532,375 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $226,711,000 after acquiring an additional 348,166 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its position in shares of Viasat by 23.2% in the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 70,622 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,277,000 after buying an additional 13,304 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Viasat by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 60,183 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,089,000 after acquiring an additional 3,712 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Viasat in the second quarter valued at $293,000. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Viasat during the second quarter worth about $67,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

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.