Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) Given Buy Rating at Stifel Nicolaus

Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) in a research note released on Friday,Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a $13.00 target price on the communications equipment provider’s stock, up from their previous target price of $12.00.

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

Viavi Solutions Price Performance

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

Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The communications equipment provider reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, hitting 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 last year, the business earned $0.05 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Viavi Solutions will post 0.18 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Masood Jabbar sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was 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 directly owns 180,333 shares in the company, valued at $1,805,133.33. This represents a 14.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Luke M. Scrivanich sold 2,802 shares of Viavi Solutions stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.43, for a total value of $29,224.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 54,517 shares in the company, valued at $568,612.31. The trade was a 4.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 47,802 shares of company stock worth $481,625. 1.52% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viavi Solutions

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Viavi Solutions by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,307,974 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $47,887,000 after purchasing an additional 54,633 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Viavi Solutions by 7.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,194,959 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,819,000 after buying an additional 217,399 shares during the period. Leeward Investments LLC MA lifted its position in Viavi Solutions by 17.1% during the third quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA now owns 1,705,653 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $15,385,000 after buying an additional 249,554 shares in the last quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Viavi Solutions by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 1,277,654 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $12,904,000 after buying an additional 161,532 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Viavi Solutions by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,075,675 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $10,864,000 after buying an additional 29,621 shares during the period. 95.54% of the stock is currently 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.