StockNews.com Upgrades Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) to Buy

Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on VIAV. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Viavi Solutions from $13.00 to $10.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. B. Riley reduced their price objective on Viavi Solutions from $9.00 to $8.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded Viavi Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $10.00 to $8.25 in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Viavi Solutions in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.71.

Viavi Solutions Price Performance

VIAV opened at $8.32 on Tuesday. Viavi Solutions has a 12-month low of $6.60 and a 12-month high of $11.32. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $7.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $8.14. The company has a market cap of $1.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -416.00 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 3.55, a quick ratio of 3.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93.

Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.01. Viavi Solutions had a positive return on equity of 3.81% and a negative net margin of 2.58%. The company had revenue of $252.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $251.83 million. Research analysts predict that Viavi Solutions will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viavi Solutions news, SVP Kevin Christopher Siebert sold 8,432 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.63, for a total value of $72,768.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 56,617 shares in the company, valued at $488,604.71. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Kevin Christopher Siebert sold 8,432 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.63, for a total value of $72,768.16. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 56,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $488,604.71. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Masood Jabbar sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.17, for a total transaction of $245,100.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 243,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,989,509.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 47,027 shares of company stock worth $383,151. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VIAV. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Viavi Solutions by 305.4% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,161,535 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $110,548,000 after buying an additional 9,161,535 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors purchased a new position in shares of Viavi Solutions in the first quarter valued at $29,526,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Viavi Solutions in the fourth quarter worth $24,608,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Viavi Solutions by 65.2% during the second 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 purchasing an additional 1,298,394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its position in Viavi Solutions by 20.2% during the fourth quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 6,573,335 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $66,193,000 after purchasing an additional 1,103,687 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.54% of the company’s stock.

Viavi Solutions Company Profile

Viavi Solutions Inc provides network test, monitoring, and assurance solutions for communications service providers, hyperscalers, network equipment manufacturers, original equipment manufacturers, government, and avionics customers in the Americas, the Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.