Needham & Company LLC Issues Positive Forecast for Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) Stock Price

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) had its price objective boosted by Needham & Company LLC from $45.00 to $58.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Viasat in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Viasat from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $36.00 to $48.00 in a report on Friday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley set a $51.00 price target on shares of Viasat in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Viasat in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viasat currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.71.

Viasat Stock Down 2.6%

Shares of NASDAQ VSAT opened at $46.58 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $45.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.86. The stock has a market cap of $6.33 billion, a PE ratio of -17.98 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. Viasat has a 52-week low of $7.36 and a 52-week high of $52.70.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Benjamin Edward Palmer sold 2,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.21, for a total transaction of $110,904.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 25,431 shares in the company, valued at $1,175,166.51. This represents a 8.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Camellia E. Fitzgerald sold 2,810 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total value of $134,880.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $477,408. This represents a 22.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 140,881 shares of company stock valued at $5,973,317. 2.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Viasat

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VSAT. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new position in Viasat during the third quarter worth $25,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Viasat by 6,815.4% in the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 899 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 886 shares during the period. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new stake in Viasat in the third quarter valued at $28,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Viasat during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Viasat during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. 86.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.