Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Given Buy Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $19.00 price objective on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target suggests a potential upside of 115.18% from the company’s current price.

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

Viasat Price Performance

NASDAQ VSAT opened at $8.83 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $9.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.75. Viasat has a 52 week low of $6.69 and a 52 week high of $26.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.63 and a beta of 1.35.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last announced its earnings results 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 net margin of 9.49% and a negative return on equity of 8.28%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Viasat will post -2.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Viasat

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

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in Viasat by 75.3% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,950 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,267 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI purchased a new position in Viasat during the third quarter valued at $27,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Viasat in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Viasat by 63.7% during the third 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 about $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.