Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Stock Price Up 10.1% - Still a Buy?

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT - Get Free Report)'s share price shot up 10.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $9.35 and last traded at $9.43. 2,517,853 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 41% from the average session volume of 4,246,234 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.56.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VSAT. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $19.00 price objective on shares of Viasat in a research note on Monday, February 10th. William Blair reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Viasat in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Viasat from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Viasat from $26.00 to $12.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Viasat from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Viasat has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $15.57.

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Viasat Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.90 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 1.80. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $9.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $10.55.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.23) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.53) by ($0.70). Viasat had a negative return on equity of 8.37% and a negative net margin of 9.49%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Viasat, Inc. will post -0.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Viasat news, EVP Mark J. Miller sold 3,564 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.21, for a total transaction of $32,824.44. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 350,351 shares in the company, valued at $3,226,732.71. This trade represents a 1.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 3,750,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.00, for a total value of $33,750,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 4,795,334 shares in the company, valued at $43,158,006. The trade was a 43.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. National Bank of Canada FI bought a new stake in shares of Viasat during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in Viasat during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Viasat by 63.7% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,623 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,021 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Viasat by 75.3% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,950 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Viasat in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. 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.