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 changing hands.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Viavi Solutions from $8.25 to $10.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Viavi Solutions from $10.50 to $12.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Needham & Company LLC raised shares of Viavi Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday. StockNews.com raised Viavi Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Northland Securities restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $14.00 price objective (up from $13.00) on shares of Viavi Solutions in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $11.20.

Insider Activity

In other Viavi Solutions news, SVP Luke M. Scrivanich sold 2,802 shares of Viavi Solutions stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.43, for a total transaction of $29,224.86. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 54,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $568,612.31. The trade was a 4.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Masood Jabbar sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 180,333 shares in the company, 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 47,802 shares of company stock worth $481,625 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VIAV. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Viavi Solutions during the third quarter worth $25,000. Quarry LP raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 5,838 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its position in Viavi Solutions by 53.0% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,388 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $85,000 after acquiring an additional 3,252 shares in the last quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. acquired a new position in Viavi Solutions in the 3rd quarter worth $95,000. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Viavi Solutions in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $76,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.54% of the company’s stock.

Viavi Solutions Stock Performance

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.22. The company has a market capitalization of $2.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -73.80 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 3.31 and a current ratio of 3.71.

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, hitting the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $240.09 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.05 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Viavi Solutions Inc. will post 0.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.