Needham & Company LLC Cuts Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Price Target to $19.00

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) had its price target cut by Needham & Company LLC from $28.00 to $19.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a buy rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on VSAT. StockNews.com lowered shares of Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 31st. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Viasat from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Bank of America cut their target price on Viasat from $31.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Viasat from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $29.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.83.

Viasat Price Performance

VSAT stock opened at $11.56 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 3.08 and a quick ratio of 2.78. The company’s 50-day moving average is $14.37 and its 200-day moving average is $15.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.45 billion, a PE ratio of -1.32 and a beta of 1.34. Viasat has a 1 year low of $10.40 and a 1 year high of $29.11.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.26) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.42) by $0.16. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. Viasat had a negative return on equity of 19.76% and a negative net margin of 22.13%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 41.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.83) earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Viasat will post -1.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 2,811,442 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.90, for a total transaction of $55,947,695.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,545,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $170,052,146.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viasat

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Viasat by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,184,209 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $340,549,000 after acquiring an additional 286,872 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Viasat by 49.6% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,025 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $112,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335 shares during the period. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp purchased a new stake in Viasat during the 1st quarter worth about $478,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Viasat by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 391,544 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $7,083,000 after purchasing an additional 4,236 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in Viasat by 20.0% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 64,453 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,166,000 after buying an additional 10,747 shares in 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.