Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Viavi Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAV)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Friday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $9.50 to $10.00. The stock had previously closed at $9.99, but opened at $12.12. Morgan Stanley currently has an underweight rating on the stock. Viavi Solutions shares last traded at $12.50, with a volume of 3,303,417 shares traded.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on VIAV. Northland Securities reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $14.00 target price (up from $13.00) on shares of Viavi Solutions in a research report on Friday. Needham & Company LLC upgraded 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. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Viavi Solutions from $8.25 to $10.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Viavi Solutions from $10.50 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Viavi Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $11.20.

Insider Activity at Viavi Solutions

In other Viavi Solutions news, SVP Luke M. Scrivanich sold 2,802 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 54,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $568,612.31. The trade was a 4.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Masood Jabbar sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.14, for a total transaction of $152,100.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 225,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,284,876.62. This represents a 6.24 % 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 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viavi Solutions

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Viavi Solutions by 41.6% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 396,227 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,722,000 after buying an additional 116,355 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Viavi Solutions by 93.7% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 27,382 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $188,000 after acquiring an additional 13,247 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC acquired a new position in shares of Viavi Solutions during the 2nd quarter worth about $154,000. Quarry LP raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 5,838 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Viavi Solutions in the 2nd quarter valued at about $76,000. Institutional investors own 95.54% of the company’s stock.

Viavi Solutions Price Performance

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 business has a fifty day moving average of $10.26 and a 200 day moving average of $9.22. The firm has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a P/E ratio of -73.80 and a beta of 0.91.

Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) last posted 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 business had revenue of $238.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $240.09 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.05 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Viavi Solutions Inc. will post 0.18 earnings per share for the current year.

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.