Needham Investment Management LLC Decreases Holdings in Viasat Inc. $VSAT

Needham Investment Management LLC decreased its holdings in Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) by 6.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 330,600 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 24,500 shares during the period. Needham Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Viasat were worth $11,392,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new stake in Viasat during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viasat in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in shares of Viasat in the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Viasat by 7,380.0% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,244 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 2,214 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Viasat by 57.7% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,260 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 827 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VSAT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on Viasat from $58.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Viasat in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Raymond James Financial set a $74.00 target price on shares of Viasat and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. B. Riley Financial lifted their price target on shares of Viasat from $94.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Barclays set a $49.00 price target on shares of Viasat in a report on Friday, May 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Viasat currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark D. Dankberg sold 400,000 shares of Viasat stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.76, for a total transaction of $25,904,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,082,196 shares in the company, valued at $70,083,012.96. This trade represents a 26.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Garrett L. Chase sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.50, for a total transaction of $290,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 38,239 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,772,327.50. This trade represents a 9.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 434,275 shares of company stock worth $28,359,079 over the last ninety days. 2.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Viasat Stock Performance

Shares of Viasat stock opened at $65.87 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $66.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.83. The company has a market capitalization of $9.00 billion, a PE ratio of -227.14 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a quick ratio of 2.19, a current ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. Viasat Inc. has a 52 week low of $12.40 and a 52 week high of $89.79.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.32 by ($0.34). The business had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. Viasat had a positive return on equity of 1.58% and a negative net margin of 0.73%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.02) earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Viasat Inc. will post -0.35 earnings per share for the current year.

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.