Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) Cut to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report released on Tuesday morning.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Viavi Solutions from $10.60 to $11.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. 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 note on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Viavi Solutions from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $13.00 target price (up from $12.00) on shares of Viavi Solutions in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Argus raised their target price on shares of Viavi Solutions from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $12.72.

Viavi Solutions Price Performance

NASDAQ VIAV opened at $11.36 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 3.18 and a current ratio of 3.55. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $11.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $10.13. Viavi Solutions has a 52-week low of $6.60 and a 52-week high of $12.91. The company has a market cap of $2.52 billion, a PE ratio of -63.11 and a beta of 0.94.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Masood Jabbar sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.01, for a total transaction of $300,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 180,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,805,133.33. This trade represents a 14.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP James L. Veler, Jr. sold 13,807 shares of Viavi Solutions stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.86, for a total transaction of $149,944.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 67,164 shares of company stock valued at $711,422 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VIAV. Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its holdings in Viavi Solutions by 35.0% in the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 3,212 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 833 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Viavi Solutions by 804.6% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 6,938 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 6,171 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Viavi Solutions in the fourth quarter valued at $75,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Viavi Solutions by 836.2% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 8,323 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $84,000 after buying an additional 7,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Viavi Solutions by 53.0% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,388 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 3,252 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.