Morgan Stanley Cuts Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Price Target to $12.00

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT - Free Report) had its target price trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $26.00 to $12.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the communications equipment provider's stock.

VSAT has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on Viasat in a research note on Friday, January 24th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $12.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays decreased their price target 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. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $19.00 price objective on shares of Viasat in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Viasat currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $15.43.

Viasat Stock Performance

Shares of Viasat stock traded up $1.86 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $11.38. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,275,707 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,301,654. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The business's 50-day moving average price is $9.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.95. Viasat has a 52 week low of $6.69 and a 52 week high of $26.70. The firm has a market cap of $1.46 billion, a PE ratio of -3.65 and a beta of 1.35.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.23) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.53) by ($0.70). Viasat had a negative net margin of 8.73% and a negative return on equity of 7.58%. Equities analysts forecast that Viasat will post -2.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viasat news, EVP Mark J. Miller sold 3,564 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.21, for a total value of $32,824.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 350,351 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,226,732.71. This represents a 1.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Viasat

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Viasat by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,445,811 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $53,083,000 after acquiring an additional 276,376 shares during the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN lifted its holdings in shares of Viasat by 28.1% during the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 4,419,223 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $52,766,000 after purchasing an additional 969,942 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $29,950,000 after purchasing an additional 122,472 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Viasat by 23.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,887,537 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $16,063,000 after purchasing an additional 364,072 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in Viasat by 1,145.1% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 816,478 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $10,369,000 after buying an additional 750,904 shares during the period. 86.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.