Viasat's (VSAT) "Sell (D-)" Rating Reaffirmed at Weiss Ratings

Key Points

• Weiss Ratings has reaffirmed a "sell (D-)" rating for Viasat's stock following mixed evaluations from other analysts, who have given ratings ranging from "strong sell" to "buy."
• Viasat's stock recently traded up by 13.9% to reach $35.65, with a trading volume exceeding its average.
• Following a quarterly earnings report that exceeded expectations, Viasat reported a revenue increase of 4% year-over-year, although it continues to face challenges with negative net margins.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "sell (d-)" rating reiterated by research analysts at Weiss Ratings in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Weiss Ratings reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on VSAT. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Viasat from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Viasat in a report on Wednesday, August 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "hold" rating on shares of Viasat in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of 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. boosted their price target on shares of Viasat from $10.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $23.29.

Viasat Trading Up 13.9%

Viasat stock traded up $4.36 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $35.65. The company had a trading volume of 4,007,735 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,649,993. The firm has a market cap of $4.79 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.72 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. Viasat has a 1 year low of $6.69 and a 1 year high of $35.68. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $28.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.21.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 sale, the director directly owned 197,161 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,111,991. This represents a 33.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Viasat

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Viasat by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,646,644 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $152,618,000 after purchasing an additional 872,784 shares during the period. OCO Capital Partners L.P. lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,250,000 shares during the period. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN lifted its stake in shares of Viasat by 15.8% in the 2nd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 5,845,100 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $85,338,000 after purchasing an additional 796,349 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Viasat by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 5,541,636 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $80,908,000 after purchasing an additional 351,404 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Viasat by 64.9% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,866,242 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $29,866,000 after purchasing an additional 1,128,338 shares during the period. 86.05% of the stock is 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.

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.