Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Shares Gap Down - Time to Sell?

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)'s stock price gapped down before the market opened 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 traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on VSAT. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Viasat from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Viasat in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. B. Riley cut their price objective on shares of Viasat from $56.00 to $52.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on Viasat from $16.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Viasat from $10.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $21.13.

Viasat Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $21.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.03 billion, a PE ratio of -6.47 and a beta of 1.26.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viasat

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Viasat in the 4th quarter worth $159,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Viasat by 19.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,095,373 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $9,321,000 after buying an additional 175,593 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Viasat by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,110,945 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $9,454,000 after purchasing an additional 64,361 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of Viasat by 87.1% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 558,251 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $4,751,000 after buying an additional 259,849 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Viasat by 149.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,365,194 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $11,618,000 after purchasing an additional 818,301 shares during the last quarter. 86.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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