Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT)

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $45.00 price objective on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price points to a potential upside of 1.74% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on VSAT. Raymond James Financial upgraded Viasat from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Viasat in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $23.00 price target (up from $10.00) on shares of Viasat in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley set a $51.00 price objective on shares of Viasat in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viasat in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.63.

Viasat Trading Up 3.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:VSAT opened at $44.23 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $36.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.30. The company has a market cap of $5.98 billion, a PE ratio of -11.06 and a beta of 1.39. Viasat has a fifty-two week low of $7.36 and a fifty-two week high of $46.43.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last posted its earnings results on Saturday, November 8th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.15 billion. Viasat had a negative net margin of 11.40% and a negative return on equity of 3.65%. Viasat’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.23) EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Viasat will post -0.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viasat

In other Viasat news, CAO Shawn Lynn Duffy sold 51,480 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.38, for a total value of $1,872,842.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 6,021 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,043.98. This represents a 89.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Benjamin Edward Palmer sold 2,780 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.06, for a total value of $100,246.80. Following the sale, the insider owned 27,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,003,585.86. This trade represents a 9.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 356,529 shares of company stock valued at $13,105,888 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viasat

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Viasat by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,962,958 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $497,015,000 after purchasing an additional 1,289,024 shares during the period. OCO Capital Partners L.P. lifted its stake in Viasat by 60.0% during the second quarter. OCO Capital Partners L.P. now owns 6,000,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $87,600,000 after buying an additional 2,250,000 shares in the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN lifted its stake in Viasat by 15.8% during the second quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 5,845,100 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $85,338,000 after buying an additional 796,349 shares in the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Viasat by 6.8% in the second quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 5,541,636 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $80,908,000 after buying an additional 351,404 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Viasat by 38.5% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,713,581 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $108,808,000 after acquiring an additional 1,033,194 shares in the last quarter. 86.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Viasat Company Profile

Viasat, Inc (NASDAQ: VSAT) provides high‐capacity satellite broadband and wireless communications services to consumer, commercial and government customers worldwide. The company designs and operates satellite systems and network infrastructure to deliver secure, high-speed connectivity across remote and underserved regions, as well as managed networking solutions for enterprises and public sector agencies.

Viasat’s product offerings include residential and enterprise satellite internet services, in-flight connectivity for commercial airlines and business jets, and secure networking platforms tailored to defense and intelligence users.