Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) Rating Increased to Buy at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has $15.00 price target on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on VIAV. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Viavi Solutions from $10.50 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Viavi Solutions from $8.25 to $10.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com raised Viavi Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Northland Securities restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $14.00 target price (up previously from $13.00) on shares of Viavi Solutions in a research note on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $9.50 price target (up from $8.00) on shares of Viavi Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viavi Solutions has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $11.88.

Viavi Solutions Price Performance

Shares of VIAV opened at $12.04 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.25. Viavi Solutions has a 52-week low of $6.60 and a 52-week high of $12.91. The company has a current ratio of 3.71, a quick ratio of 3.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.06. Viavi Solutions had a negative net margin of 3.78% and a positive return on equity of 2.22%. The company had revenue of $238.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $240.09 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.05 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Viavi Solutions will post 0.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Viavi Solutions

In other news, SVP Luke M. Scrivanich sold 2,802 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $568,612.31. This represents a 4.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Masood Jabbar sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 47,802 shares of company stock worth $481,625 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Viavi Solutions by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 17,226 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $172,000 after purchasing an additional 1,288 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Viavi Solutions by 15.4% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 13,442 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $136,000 after purchasing an additional 1,792 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Viavi Solutions by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 43,732 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $442,000 after buying an additional 2,277 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Viavi Solutions by 24.0% during the 3rd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 11,900 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $107,000 after buying an additional 2,300 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Viavi Solutions in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. 95.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.