Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Rating Increased to Outperform at Raymond James Financial

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) was upgraded by stock analysts at Raymond James Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report released on Monday,Finviz reports. The brokerage presently has a $52.00 price target on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Raymond James Financial’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 45.21% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also commented on VSAT. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Viasat in a research report on Wednesday, August 27th. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $23.00 target price (up from $10.00) on shares of Viasat in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Wall Street Zen raised Viasat from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on Viasat from $16.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Viasat from $10.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.88.

Viasat Trading Up 0.9%

NASDAQ VSAT opened at $35.81 on Monday. Viasat has a 12 month low of $6.69 and a 12 month high of $40.47. The company has a 50-day moving average of $33.42 and a 200-day moving average of $21.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 2.11 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The company has a market cap of $4.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.75 and a beta of 1.24.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by $0.20. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. Viasat had a negative return on equity of 6.37% and a negative net margin of 13.11%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.23) EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Viasat will post -0.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Viasat news, Director Richard A. Baldridge sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.00, for a total transaction of $3,100,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 197,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,111,991. This trade represents a 33.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viasat

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in Viasat in the first quarter valued at about $137,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Viasat by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 427,004 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,449,000 after acquiring an additional 13,882 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Viasat by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 654,358 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $6,818,000 after acquiring an additional 4,409 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC bought a new position in Viasat during the first quarter worth $204,000. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in Viasat by 38.3% in the first quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 38,294 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $399,000 after purchasing an additional 10,600 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

Viasat Company Profile

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.