Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Shares Gap Down - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Viasat's stock price gapped down from $29.65 to open at $28.13, with a last traded price of $29.96 and a trading volume of over 1.2 million shares.
• Analysts have mixed opinions on the stock, with four rating it as a Buy and five as a Hold, while the consensus price target is set at $21.13.
• Viasat reported earnings of $0.17 per share, outperforming estimates, with revenues increasing 4% year-over-year to $1.17 billion.

Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT - Get Free Report) shares gapped down prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $29.65, but opened at $28.13. Viasat shares last traded at $29.96, with a volume of 1,280,356 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VSAT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Viasat in a research note on Wednesday, August 27th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on Viasat from $16.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. B. Riley decreased their price target on Viasat from $56.00 to $52.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Wall Street Zen raised Viasat from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Viasat from $10.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viasat currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $21.13.

Viasat Price Performance

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 stock has a market capitalization of $4.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.61 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a 50-day moving average of $23.13 and a 200-day moving average of $14.69.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VSAT. Long Focus Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Viasat in the 1st quarter valued at $24,695,000. OCO Capital Partners L.P. raised its holdings in Viasat by 60.0% in the 2nd quarter. OCO Capital Partners L.P. now owns 6,000,000 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $87,600,000 after acquiring an additional 2,250,000 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Viasat in the 1st quarter valued at $20,593,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Viasat by 96.8% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,680,387 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $39,134,000 after acquiring an additional 1,318,524 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Viasat by 673.7% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,386,089 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $14,443,000 after acquiring an additional 1,206,935 shares during the last quarter. 86.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.