Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Stock Price Up 9.4% – Should You Buy?

Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) shares rose 9.4% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $41.60 and last traded at $42.1050. Approximately 1,316,087 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 6% from the average daily volume of 1,404,293 shares. The stock had previously closed at $38.50.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James Financial upgraded Viasat from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Viasat from $25.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Viasat in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Viasat from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $23.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $23.00 price target (up previously from $10.00) on shares of Viasat in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.75.

Viasat Trading Up 2.7%

The company has a 50 day moving average of $35.57 and a 200 day moving average of $29.33. The firm has a market cap of $5.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.68 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, November 8th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by $0.20. Viasat had a negative return on equity of 3.65% and a negative net margin of 11.40%.The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.23) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Viasat Inc. will post -0.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Benjamin Edward Palmer sold 2,780 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.06, for a total transaction of $100,246.80. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 27,831 shares in the company, valued at $1,003,585.86. This represents a 9.08% 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, CEO Mark D. Dankberg sold 200,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.09, for a total value of $7,018,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,534,993 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,862,904.37. This represents a 11.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 356,529 shares of company stock valued at $13,105,888. Company insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viasat

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in Viasat in the second quarter worth $1,099,000. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Viasat in the 2nd quarter valued at $3,066,000. Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its position in shares of Viasat by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 5,541,636 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $80,908,000 after buying an additional 351,404 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Viasat during the 2nd quarter worth $1,601,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC lifted its holdings in Viasat by 746.4% during the second quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 13,567 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $198,000 after acquiring an additional 11,964 shares in the last quarter. 86.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Viasat

Viasat, Inc (NASDAQ: VSAT) provides high‐capacity satellite broadband and wireless communications services to consumer, commercial and government customers worldwide. The company designs and operates satellite systems and network infrastructure to deliver secure, high-speed connectivity across remote and underserved regions, as well as managed networking solutions for enterprises and public sector agencies.

Viasat’s product offerings include residential and enterprise satellite internet services, in-flight connectivity for commercial airlines and business jets, and secure networking platforms tailored to defense and intelligence users.