Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Hits New 12-Month High - Here's Why

Key Points

• Viasat shares reached a new 52-week high of $34.30 before closing at $32.83, indicating strong trading activity with a volume of 496,302 shares.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on Viasat; Barclays set a price target of $23.00, while Needham & Company increased theirs to $25.00 and rated it a "buy."
• The company reported earnings of $0.17 per share for the last quarter, outperforming expectations, with revenues rising 4.0% year-over-year to $1.17 billion.

Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT - Get Free Report) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $34.30 and last traded at $32.83, with a volume of 496302 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $31.29.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on VSAT shares. Barclays reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and set a $23.00 price objective (up from $10.00) on shares of Viasat in a research note 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 target price on Viasat from $16.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Viasat in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Viasat in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $23.29.

Viasat Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $4.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.33 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.11. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $28.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.21.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. Viasat had a negative return on equity of 6.37% and a negative net margin of 13.11%.The company's revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.30 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Viasat Inc. will post -0.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viasat

In other news, Director Richard A. Baldridge sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.00, for a total value of $3,100,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 197,161 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,111,991. This represents a 33.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Viasat

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Viasat by 6.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,646,644 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $152,618,000 after purchasing an additional 872,784 shares during the period. OCO Capital Partners L.P. raised its stake in Viasat by 60.0% in the second quarter. OCO Capital Partners L.P. now owns 6,000,000 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $87,600,000 after buying an additional 2,250,000 shares in the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN raised its stake in Viasat by 15.8% in the second quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 5,845,100 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $85,338,000 after buying an additional 796,349 shares in the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC raised its stake in Viasat by 6.8% in the second quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 5,541,636 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $80,908,000 after buying an additional 351,404 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in Viasat by 64.9% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,866,242 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $29,866,000 after buying an additional 1,128,338 shares in the last quarter. 86.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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