Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Stock Price Up 12.4% – Time to Buy?

Shares of Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) shot up 12.4% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $9.93 and last traded at $9.89. 544,843 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 1,923,527 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.80.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on VSAT shares. Barclays cut their target price 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 31st. Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on shares of Viasat from $28.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Viasat from $31.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Viasat from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $29.00 to $15.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.33.

Viasat Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.19 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.97 and a beta of 1.34. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $13.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.07) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.54) by ($0.53). The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. Viasat had a negative net margin of 8.73% and a negative return on equity of 7.58%. Viasat’s revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($6.16) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Viasat, Inc. will post -2.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viasat

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. National Bank of Canada FI purchased a new stake in shares of Viasat in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Viasat during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Viasat during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Viasat by 63.7% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,623 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 1,021 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position 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. 86.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.