Viavi Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAV) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Viavi Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAV) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation, two have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $10.44.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on VIAV shares. UBS Group initiated 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. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and set a $9.50 price target (up previously from $8.00) on shares of Viavi Solutions in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Viavi Solutions from $8.25 to $10.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com cut Viavi Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Finally, Northland Securities upped their price target on Viavi Solutions from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viavi Solutions news, Director Masood Jabbar sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.14, for a total value of $152,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 225,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,284,876.62. This trade represents a 6.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Luke M. Scrivanich sold 2,802 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.43, for a total value of $29,224.86. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 54,517 shares in the company, valued at $568,612.31. This represents a 4.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 32,802 shares of company stock worth $318,875 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 606,522 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Viavi Solutions by 1.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,307,974 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $47,887,000 after acquiring an additional 54,633 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Viavi Solutions by 65.2% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,290,197 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $22,604,000 after acquiring an additional 1,298,394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Viavi Solutions by 7.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 217,399 shares in the last quarter. 95.54% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Viavi Solutions Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of VIAV opened at $10.12 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $10.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 3.31 and a current ratio of 3.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -59.53 and a beta of 0.91. Viavi Solutions has a one year low of $6.60 and a one 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 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06. The business had revenue of $238.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $240.09 million. Viavi Solutions had a negative net margin of 3.78% and a positive return on equity of 2.22%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.05 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Viavi Solutions will post 0.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.