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

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $19.00 price target on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price suggests a potential upside of 66.96% from the company’s current price.

VSAT has been the topic of several other research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on Viasat in a report on Friday, January 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $12.00 target price on the stock. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Viasat in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price 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. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Viasat from $24.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.43.

Viasat Stock Performance

Viasat stock opened at $11.38 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $9.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Viasat has a 52-week low of $6.69 and a 52-week high of $26.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.46 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.39 and a beta of 1.35.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Mark J. Miller sold 3,564 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.21, for a total value of $32,824.44. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 350,351 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,226,732.71. This represents a 1.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Algert Global LLC raised its stake in Viasat by 361.3% during the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 77,880 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $930,000 after buying an additional 60,998 shares during the period. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Viasat during the third quarter worth about $710,000. Everett Harris & Co. CA bought a new position in shares of Viasat during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,111,000. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Viasat by 40.4% in the 3rd quarter. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC now owns 191,304 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,284,000 after purchasing an additional 55,000 shares during the period. Finally, PDT Partners LLC bought a new stake in Viasat during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,980,000. Institutional investors 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.