Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) Receives Underweight Rating from Morgan Stanley

Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV)‘s stock had its “underweight” rating reissued by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $9.50 price target on the communications equipment provider’s stock, up from their previous price target of $8.00. Morgan Stanley’s price target points to a potential downside of 14.87% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Northland Securities boosted their price objective on Viavi Solutions from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Viavi Solutions from $8.25 to $10.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com upgraded Viavi Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Viavi Solutions from $10.50 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Viavi Solutions in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.44.

Viavi Solutions Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VIAV opened at $11.16 on Tuesday. Viavi Solutions has a 52 week low of $6.60 and a 52 week high of $11.49. The company has a market cap of $2.48 billion, a P/E ratio of -65.65 and a beta of 0.92. 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 simple moving average of $9.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $8.57.

Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) last issued its 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 firm had revenue of $238.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $240.09 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.05 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Viavi Solutions will post 0.19 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Viavi Solutions

In other news, Director Masood Jabbar sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.17, for a total transaction of $137,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 213,514 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,957,923.38. The trade was a 6.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 54,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $568,612.31. This represents a 4.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 35,831 shares of company stock worth $345,712. Company insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viavi Solutions

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VIAV. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Viavi Solutions by 44.1% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 15,938 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $144,000 after acquiring an additional 4,875 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Viavi Solutions by 1.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 54,633 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Viavi Solutions by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 538,261 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,856,000 after acquiring an additional 22,893 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Viavi Solutions by 34.3% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 37,480 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $338,000 after acquiring an additional 9,580 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dean Investment Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Viavi Solutions by 189.6% during the 3rd quarter. Dean Investment Associates LLC now owns 280,239 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,528,000 after acquiring an additional 183,481 shares during the last quarter. 95.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Viavi Solutions

Viavi Solutions Inc provides network test, monitoring, and assurance solutions for communications service providers, hyperscalers, network equipment manufacturers, original equipment manufacturers, government, and avionics customers in the Americas, the Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.