Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Upgraded at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has $50.00 price target on the communications equipment provider’s stock, up from their previous price target of $23.00.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Viasat from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $23.00 price target (up previously from $10.00) on shares of Viasat in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viasat in a research note on Wednesday, August 27th. Raymond James Financial raised Viasat from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Viasat in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Viasat presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.75.

Viasat Price Performance

VSAT opened at $35.78 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.11, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The company has a market cap of $4.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.74 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.41. Viasat has a 12-month low of $6.69 and a 12-month high of $43.59.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last released its earnings results on Saturday, November 8th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11) by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. Viasat had a negative net margin of 13.11% and a negative return on equity of 6.37%. The company’s revenue was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.23) EPS. Research analysts predict that Viasat will post -0.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Viasat

In related news, Director Richard A. Baldridge sold 100,000 shares of Viasat stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.00, for a total value of $3,100,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 197,161 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,111,991. This trade represents a 33.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Viasat

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vise Technologies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Viasat during the third quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in Viasat in the third quarter worth approximately $12,554,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Viasat by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,129,880 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $62,405,000 after purchasing an additional 240,029 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in Viasat by 19.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 97,179 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,847,000 after buying an additional 15,780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG raised its stake in Viasat by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,131,471 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $33,152,000 after buying an additional 30,157 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

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.