Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Viasat (VSAT) Monday with an “Outperform” rating and a price target of $140 — nearly double where the stock was trading. VSAT was at $71.35 on Monday, up $9.40 on the day, putting Oppenheimer’s target at a 96% premium to that close.
That’s an aggressive call on a stock that has had a rough year. VSAT hit a 12-month low of $14.00 before recovering. It reached a high of $89.79 over the same period.
The stock’s 50-day moving average is $68.04 and its 200-day moving average is $52.63, so Monday’s price is above both trend lines.
Oppenheimer isn’t the only firm paying attention. B. Riley raised its target from $94 to $106 with a “Buy” on May 29. New Street Research started coverage with a “Buy” and a $100 target on May 13. Deutsche Bank reiterated a “Buy” with a $97 target on June 1. Raymond James set a $74 target with an “Outperform” on April 24.
Barclays is more cautious, with a $49 target. Weiss Ratings has a “Sell (D-)” on the stock.
The consensus across analysts sits at “Moderate Buy” with an average price target of around $77–$84, depending on the source. Ten analysts cover the stock: one Strong Buy, seven Buys, one Hold, and one Sell.
On May 28, Viasat reported Q3 results that disappointed. EPS came in at ($0.02), missing the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.34. Revenue was $1.17 billion against expectations of $1.20 billion — a shortfall of roughly $30 million.
Revenue was up 2.1% year-over-year, and the company posted the same EPS figure as the year-ago quarter. Net margin was -0.73%, while return on equity was a slim positive at 1.58%.
Full-year EPS is expected to land at -$0.39, according to analyst estimates. The market cap stands at around $8.46–$9.74 billion depending on the day’s price, with a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35.
Louisiana State Employees Retirement System opened a fresh position in Q1, buying 60,200 shares valued at approximately $2.76 million. That adds to an already concentrated institutional ownership base — 86.05% of VSAT is held by institutions.
Some of the larger moves came from Disciplined Growth Investors, which added 796,349 shares in Q2, bringing its total to 5.85 million. T. Rowe Price made a dramatic increase — up 2,821.7% in Q4 — adding over 3.1 million shares.
On the other side of the ledger, insiders have been selling. CFO Garrett L. Chase sold 4,000 shares on June 22 at $62.41, reducing his position by 10.46%. Director Richard A. Baldridge sold 27,122 shares on June 3 at $71.74, a reduction of 11.28%.
In total, insiders sold 438,275 shares worth $28.6 million over the past 90 days. Insider ownership now stands at 2.20%.
As of Monday, VSAT opened at $61.95 before climbing to close at $71.35.
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