Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $8.89, but opened at $9.67. Viasat shares last traded at $10.71, with a volume of 1,768,715 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on VSAT. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 price target on shares of Viasat in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays cut their price objective on Viasat from $24.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. One 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.33.

Viasat Stock Performance

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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $8.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $12.39.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last issued 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 company had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. Viasat had a negative return on equity of 7.58% and a negative net margin of 8.73%. Viasat’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($6.16) EPS. Analysts predict that Viasat, Inc. will post -2.64 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viasat

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Algert Global LLC lifted its stake in Viasat by 361.3% in the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 77,880 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $930,000 after buying an additional 60,998 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Viasat by 63.6% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 644,155 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $8,181,000 after acquiring an additional 250,389 shares during the period. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in Viasat in the 3rd quarter valued at $710,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in Viasat by 1,145.1% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 816,478 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,369,000 after purchasing an additional 750,904 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Viasat by 40.4% during the 3rd quarter. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC now owns 191,304 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,284,000 after purchasing an additional 55,000 shares during the period. 86.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.