Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $9.50 target price (up from $8.00) on shares of Viavi Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Northland Securities boosted their price objective on Viavi Solutions from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Viavi Solutions from $10.50 to $12.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. UBS Group started coverage on Viavi Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $10.60 target price on the stock. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Viavi Solutions from $8.25 to $10.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Viavi Solutions has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.44.

Viavi Solutions Stock Performance

VIAV stock opened at $10.35 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.30 billion, a PE ratio of -60.88 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 3.71, a quick ratio of 3.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $10.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $8.70. Viavi Solutions has a 1-year low of $6.60 and a 1-year high of $11.49.

Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The communications equipment provider reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06. The business had revenue of $238.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $240.09 million. Viavi Solutions had a positive return on equity of 2.22% and a negative net margin of 3.78%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.05 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Viavi Solutions will post 0.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Luke M. Scrivanich sold 2,802 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 54,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $568,612.31. This trade represents a 4.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Masood Jabbar sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.14, for a total transaction of $152,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 225,333 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,284,876.62. The trade was a 6.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 32,802 shares of company stock worth $318,875. 1.52% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viavi Solutions

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VIAV. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its stake in Viavi Solutions by 9.2% in 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 period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Viavi Solutions by 12.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,818,337 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $39,972,000 after purchasing an additional 661,450 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Viavi Solutions by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,307,974 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $47,887,000 after buying an additional 54,633 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Viavi Solutions by 65.2% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,290,197 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $22,604,000 after buying an additional 1,298,394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Viavi Solutions by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,194,959 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,819,000 after buying an additional 217,399 shares during the period. 95.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Viavi Solutions

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.