Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Stock Price Up 2.9%

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT - Get Free Report) shares shot up 2.9% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $15.82 and last traded at $15.80. 205,497 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 1,094,217 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.35.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Barclays decreased their target price on Viasat from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $38.17.

Viasat Stock Up 1.4 %

The firm has a market cap of $1.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 2.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $18.19 and a 200-day moving average of $20.63.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.99) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.14) by ($0.85). Viasat had a net margin of 6.01% and a return on equity of 4.52%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.12 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Viasat, Inc. will post -1.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Viasat

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VSAT. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Viasat during the 1st quarter valued at $232,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Viasat by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 119,001 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $5,807,000 after acquiring an additional 6,265 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Viasat by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 654,115 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $31,920,000 after acquiring an additional 7,336 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Viasat during the 1st quarter valued at $215,000. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Viasat by 35.0% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 48,033 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $2,344,000 after acquiring an additional 12,442 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.05% of the company's stock.

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.