Stifel Nicolaus Reaffirms Buy Rating for Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV)

Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by research analysts at Stifel Nicolaus in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $13.00 price objective on the communications equipment provider’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $12.00. Stifel Nicolaus’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 7.97% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. UBS Group started coverage on Viavi Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $10.60 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Viavi Solutions from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of Viavi Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday. Northland Securities reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $14.00 target price (up previously from $13.00) on shares of Viavi Solutions in a research note on Friday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Viavi Solutions from $8.25 to $10.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Viavi Solutions has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $11.88.

Viavi Solutions Stock Up 20.5 %

VIAV stock opened at $12.04 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.31, a current ratio of 3.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $10.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.26. The stock has a market cap of $2.67 billion, a PE ratio of -70.82 and a beta of 0.91. Viavi Solutions has a fifty-two week low of $6.60 and a fifty-two week high of $12.91.

Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The communications equipment provider reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06. Viavi Solutions had a positive return on equity of 2.22% and a negative net margin of 3.78%. The company had revenue of $238.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $240.09 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.05 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Viavi Solutions will post 0.18 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Luke M. Scrivanich sold 2,802 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was 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 directly owns 54,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $568,612.31. This trade represents a 4.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Masood Jabbar sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.01, for a total value of $300,300.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 180,333 shares in the company, valued at $1,805,133.33. This trade represents a 14.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 47,802 shares of company stock worth $481,625 in the last ninety days. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viavi Solutions

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Viavi Solutions during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Quarry LP lifted its position in shares of Viavi Solutions by 419.7% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 7,229 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 5,838 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Viavi Solutions in the 4th quarter worth approximately $75,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Viavi Solutions during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $76,000. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its stake in Viavi Solutions by 53.0% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,388 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 3,252 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.54% of the company’s stock.

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.