Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Stock Price Down 3.7% - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• Viasat's stock price decreased by 3.7% on Friday, trading at $30.72 after hitting a low of $30.65 and experiencing a significant decrease in trading volume.
• Analysts have mixed views on Viasat, with ratings ranging from strong sell to buy, and an average target price of $21.13.
• The company recently reported a quarterly EPS of $0.17, surpassing expectations, with revenue increasing by 4% year-over-year to $1.17 billion.

Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT - Get Free Report) traded down 3.7% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $30.65 and last traded at $30.72. 264,864 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 93% from the average session volume of 3,658,297 shares. The stock had previously closed at $31.91.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. 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 raised their price target on Viasat from $16.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Viasat from $10.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Viasat in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Viasat in a research report on Wednesday, August 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $21.13.

Viasat Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $4.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.52 and a beta of 1.27. 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 simple moving average of $22.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.54.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.30 EPS. The business's revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Viasat Inc. will post -0.54 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viasat

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Viasat by 6.3% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. OCO Capital Partners L.P. raised its stake in shares of Viasat by 60.0% during the 2nd quarter. OCO Capital Partners L.P. now owns 6,000,000 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $87,600,000 after purchasing an additional 2,250,000 shares in the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its stake in shares of Viasat by 15.8% during the 2nd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 5,845,100 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $85,338,000 after acquiring an additional 796,349 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Viasat by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 5,541,636 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $80,908,000 after acquiring an additional 351,404 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Viasat by 64.9% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,866,242 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $29,866,000 after acquiring an additional 1,128,338 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.