Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Reaches New 1-Year Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday after Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on the stock from $35.00 to $28.00. Needham & Company LLC currently has a buy rating on the stock. Viasat traded as low as $14.15 and last traded at $14.28, with a volume of 893193 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.74.

Separately, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Viasat from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viasat

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Viasat by 40.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,897,337 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $219,625,000 after buying an additional 3,417,316 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Viasat during the fourth quarter worth about $17,511,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Viasat by 68.0% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,133,429 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $20,923,000 after buying an additional 458,959 shares in the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Viasat during the first quarter worth about $5,936,000. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its position in shares of Viasat by 1,752.3% during the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 159,355 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,883,000 after buying an additional 150,752 shares in the last quarter. 86.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Viasat Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.83 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a quick ratio of 2.46, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $16.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.34.

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.