Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) Stock Price Up 6.8% After Analyst Upgrade

Viavi Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAV)’s stock price traded up 6.8% during trading on Monday after B. Riley raised their price target on the stock from $18.00 to $22.00. B. Riley currently has a buy rating on the stock. Viavi Solutions traded as high as $20.06 and last traded at $20.06. Approximately 2,263,545 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 37% from the average session volume of 3,601,513 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.79.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on VIAV. Argus increased their target price on shares of Viavi Solutions from $16.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Viavi Solutions in a report on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Viavi Solutions from $12.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Viavi Solutions from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Viavi Solutions from $16.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.89.

Insider Transactions at Viavi Solutions

In other Viavi Solutions news, EVP Ilan Daskal sold 170,000 shares of Viavi Solutions stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.49, for a total transaction of $2,973,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 10,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $177,208.68. This trade represents a 94.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Kevin Christopher Siebert sold 24,225 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.26, for a total transaction of $442,348.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 49,225 shares in the company, valued at $898,848.50. This represents a 32.98% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 606,226 shares of company stock valued at $10,714,820. 1.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Viavi Solutions

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of Viavi Solutions by 11.5% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 183,320 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,051,000 after acquiring an additional 18,910 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Viavi Solutions by 110.5% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 33,663 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $377,000 after purchasing an additional 17,673 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in Viavi Solutions by 4.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 131,061 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,467,000 after purchasing an additional 5,775 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viavi Solutions by 205.4% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 476,767 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $5,335,000 after purchasing an additional 320,662 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Services Automobile Association bought a new stake in shares of Viavi Solutions during the first quarter worth $165,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.54% of the company’s stock.

Viavi Solutions Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $4.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 295.71 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.74. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $18.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $14.47.

Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $299.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $294.35 million. Viavi Solutions had a net margin of 1.33% and a return on equity of 10.70%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.06 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Viavi Solutions Inc. will post 0.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Viavi Solutions

Viavi Solutions Inc is a provider of network test, monitoring and assurance solutions for communications service providers, cable operators, enterprises and government agencies. The company offers an extensive portfolio of fiber optic and copper cable test and measurement instruments, wireless network testing equipment and network performance monitoring software. Its products are designed to support the deployment, maintenance and optimization of high-speed broadband, 5G wireless, data center and enterprise networks.

Viavi’s product offerings are organized into two primary segments: Network & Service Enablement and Optical Security & Performance.