Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Receives “Buy” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC restated their buy rating on shares of Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $19.00 target price on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on VSAT. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Viasat from $26.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Viasat from $24.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Viasat in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on shares of Viasat in a report on Friday, January 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $12.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.43.

Viasat Trading Up 1.7 %

Viasat stock opened at $8.98 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $9.33 and a 200-day moving average of $11.73. Viasat has a one year low of $6.69 and a one year high of $26.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The company has a market cap of $1.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.67 and a beta of 1.35.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.23) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.53) by ($0.70). Viasat had a negative return on equity of 8.28% and a negative net margin of 9.49%. On average, equities analysts expect that Viasat will post -2.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viasat

In other Viasat news, EVP Mark J. Miller sold 3,564 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.21, for a total value of $32,824.44. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 350,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,226,732.71. This represents a 1.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 3,750,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.00, for a total transaction of $33,750,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 4,795,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,158,006. The trade was a 43.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VSAT. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Viasat by 75.3% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,950 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI acquired a new position in shares of Viasat during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Viasat during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. KBC Group NV grew its position in shares of Viasat by 63.7% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,623 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,021 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Viasat during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

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.