Viasat’s (VSAT) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their buy rating on shares of Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $45.00 price objective on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Viasat from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $23.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $23.00 target price (up previously from $10.00) on shares of Viasat in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Viasat in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Viasat from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viasat in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.63.

Viasat Trading Up 1.7%

NASDAQ VSAT opened at $42.64 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $36.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 2.08. Viasat has a twelve month low of $7.36 and a twelve month high of $46.43. The stock has a market cap of $5.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.66 and a beta of 1.39.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Shawn Lynn Duffy sold 51,480 shares of Viasat stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $219,043.98. This trade represents a 89.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Benjamin Edward Palmer sold 2,780 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.06, for a total transaction of $100,246.80. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 27,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,003,585.86. This represents a 9.08% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 356,529 shares of company stock valued at $13,105,888 in the last quarter. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viasat

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. OCO Capital Partners L.P. lifted its position in shares of Viasat by 60.0% during the 2nd quarter. OCO Capital Partners L.P. now owns 6,000,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $87,600,000 after purchasing an additional 2,250,000 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its position in Viasat by 12,255.3% in the 3rd quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 1,404,800 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $41,161,000 after buying an additional 1,393,430 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Viasat by 96.8% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,680,387 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $39,134,000 after buying an additional 1,318,524 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Viasat by 8.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,962,958 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $497,015,000 after buying an additional 1,289,024 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Viasat by 673.7% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,386,089 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $14,443,000 after buying an additional 1,206,935 shares during the last quarter. 86.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.