Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Hits New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $74.25 and last traded at $73.07, with a volume of 1942147 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $70.01.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on VSAT. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $36.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Viasat in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on Viasat from $45.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Viasat in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $74.00 price target on Viasat and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Viasat presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.57.

Viasat Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $44.44. The company has a market capitalization of $9.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -28.21 and a beta of 1.66.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viasat news, SVP Robert James Blair sold 30,411 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.04, for a total value of $1,430,533.44. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 38,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,792,600.32. This represents a 44.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Craig Andrew Miller sold 5,260 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $263,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 21,252 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,062,600. The trade was a 19.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 38,071 shares of company stock valued at $1,804,437 in the last three months. Insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Viasat by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,962,958 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $497,015,000 after acquiring an additional 1,289,024 shares during the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its holdings in shares of Viasat by 15.8% during the 2nd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 5,845,100 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $85,338,000 after acquiring an additional 796,349 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Viasat by 18.2% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,789,539 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $219,346,000 after acquiring an additional 738,656 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Viasat by 38.5% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,713,581 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $108,808,000 after acquiring an additional 1,033,194 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Viasat by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,328,854 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $115,266,000 after acquiring an additional 273,369 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

Viasat Company Profile

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.