Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday.

VIAV has been the subject of a number of other research reports. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Viavi Solutions in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $10.60 price objective for the company. Northland Securities upped their price target on Viavi Solutions from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Viavi Solutions in a report on Monday, December 16th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Viavi Solutions from $10.50 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $9.50 price target (up previously from $8.00) on shares of Viavi Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.44.

Viavi Solutions Price Performance

Shares of VIAV opened at $10.13 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.25 billion, a P/E ratio of -59.58 and a beta of 0.91. The business’s 50-day moving average is $10.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $8.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 3.31 and a current ratio of 3.71. Viavi Solutions has a fifty-two week low of $6.60 and a fifty-two week high of $11.49.

Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The communications equipment provider reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.06. The company had revenue of $238.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $240.09 million. Viavi Solutions had a positive return on equity of 2.22% and a negative net margin of 3.78%. Viavi Solutions’s quarterly revenue was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.05 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Viavi Solutions will post 0.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Luke M. Scrivanich sold 2,802 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.43, for a total transaction of $29,224.86. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 54,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $568,612.31. The trade was a 4.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Masood Jabbar sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.17, for a total transaction of $137,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 213,514 shares in the company, valued at $1,957,923.38. This trade represents a 6.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,802 shares of company stock valued at $318,875 in the last 90 days. 1.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viavi Solutions

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Viavi Solutions by 12.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,818,337 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $39,972,000 after buying an additional 661,450 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Viavi Solutions by 9.2% during the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 7,203,703 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $49,489,000 after acquiring an additional 606,522 shares during the last quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA boosted its position in shares of Viavi Solutions by 17.1% during the 3rd quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA now owns 1,705,653 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $15,385,000 after acquiring an additional 249,554 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Viavi Solutions by 7.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,194,959 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,819,000 after purchasing an additional 217,399 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in Viavi Solutions by 98,561.6% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 187,457 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,288,000 after purchasing an additional 187,267 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.54% of the company’s stock.

Viavi Solutions Company Profile

Viavi Solutions, Inc engages in the provision of network test, monitoring, and assurance solutions for communications service providers, enterprises, network equipment manufacturers, government and avionics. It operates through the following segments: Network Enablement, Service Enablement, and Optical Security and Performance.