Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Sets New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) hit a new 52-week high on Thursday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $10.00 to $23.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Viasat traded as high as $28.59 and last traded at $27.82, with a volume of 17820668 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $21.29.

VSAT has been the topic of a number of other reports. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Viasat from $16.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Viasat from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. William Blair raised Viasat from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, B. Riley cut their price objective on Viasat from $56.00 to $52.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.13.

Institutional Trading of Viasat

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 872,784 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its position in Viasat by 2.9% during the first quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 5,190,232 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $53,913,000 after purchasing an additional 145,868 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Viasat by 64.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,128,338 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Viasat by 26.4% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,384,942 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $24,851,000 after purchasing an additional 497,405 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Long Focus Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Viasat during the first quarter worth approximately $24,695,000. 86.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Viasat Stock Down 2.3%

The company has a market cap of $3.44 billion, a PE ratio of -5.55 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. The company 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%. Viasat’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.30 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Viasat Inc. will post -0.54 EPS for the current year.

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.