Analysts Set Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) Price Target at $14.57

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eight analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $14.57.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Viasat from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Viasat from $26.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Viasat in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on shares of Viasat in a research note on Friday, January 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $12.00 price target on the stock.

Viasat Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of NASDAQ VSAT opened at $10.53 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.36 billion, a PE ratio of -3.13 and a beta of 1.01. Viasat has a 12-month low of $6.69 and a 12-month high of $26.70. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.89) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.03 by ($1.92). Viasat had a negative net margin of 9.49% and a negative return on equity of 8.37%. The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.24) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Viasat will post -0.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Viasat

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Viasat by 26.4% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,229,116 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,460,000 after acquiring an additional 256,389 shares in the last quarter. Everett Harris & Co. CA bought a new stake in shares of Viasat in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,111,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Viasat by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 413,122 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,516,000 after acquiring an additional 12,802 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Viasat by 115.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 282,475 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,373,000 after acquiring an additional 151,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Viasat by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,773,860 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $117,216,000 after acquiring an additional 194,006 shares in the last quarter. 86.05% of the stock is currently owned by 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.