Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $11.81, but opened at $11.52. Viasat shares last traded at $10.96, with a volume of 1,229,071 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on VSAT shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 target price on shares of Viasat in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Viasat from $24.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Viasat currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.33.

Viasat Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.37 billion, a PE ratio of -3.43 and a beta of 1.34. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $8.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $12.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.44.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.07) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.54) by ($0.53). Viasat had a negative return on equity of 7.58% and a negative net margin of 8.73%. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($6.16) earnings per share. Viasat’s quarterly revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Viasat, Inc. will post -2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Viasat

In related news, EVP Mark J. Miller sold 3,564 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.21, for a total transaction of $32,824.44. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 350,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,226,732.71. This trade represents a 1.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Viasat

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Viasat by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,445,811 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $53,083,000 after acquiring an additional 276,376 shares during the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its stake in Viasat by 28.1% in the 3rd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 4,419,223 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $52,766,000 after purchasing an additional 969,942 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Viasat by 5.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,508,056 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,950,000 after purchasing an additional 122,472 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Viasat by 8.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,523,465 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $18,190,000 after purchasing an additional 115,909 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viasat by 1,145.1% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 816,478 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $10,369,000 after purchasing an additional 750,904 shares during the last quarter. 86.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.