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

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their buy rating on shares of Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT - Free Report) in a research note released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a $19.00 price objective on the communications equipment provider's stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Viasat from $26.00 to $12.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. William Blair reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Viasat in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Viasat in a research note on Friday, January 24th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $12.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective 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 issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $15.43.

Viasat Stock Up 2.8 %

VSAT traded up $0.25 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $9.23. 4,297,868 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,695,760. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $9.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.71. The company has a market cap of $1.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.75 and a beta of 1.35. Viasat has a fifty-two week low of $6.69 and a fifty-two week 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.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($1.23) earnings per share 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Viasat will post -2.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Viasat

In related 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 350,351 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,226,732.71. This trade represents a 1.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Cpp Investment Board Private H sold 3,750,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 4,795,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 Trading of Viasat

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in 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 valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 1,267 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI acquired a new position in Viasat during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in Viasat during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. KBC Group NV increased its stake in Viasat by 63.7% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,623 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 1,021 shares during the period. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Viasat during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.