Wall Street Zen Downgrades Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) to Hold

Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on VIAV. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Viavi Solutions from $18.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Viavi Solutions from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Viavi Solutions in a report on Monday, December 29th. B. Riley Financial increased their target price on Viavi Solutions from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on Viavi Solutions from $28.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.13.

Viavi Solutions Stock Down 10.1%

Shares of Viavi Solutions stock opened at $27.88 on Friday. Viavi Solutions has a 1 year low of $8.10 and a 1 year high of $35.61. The firm has a market cap of $6.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -154.88 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a 50-day moving average of $23.57 and a 200 day moving average of $17.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 2.61 and a quick ratio of 2.32.

Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $369.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $365.25 million. Viavi Solutions had a negative net margin of 3.38% and a positive return on equity of 13.03%. Viavi Solutions’s quarterly revenue was up 36.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.13 earnings per share. Viavi Solutions has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.220-4.000 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Viavi Solutions will post 0.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Oleg Khaykin sold 42,767 shares of Viavi Solutions stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.50, for a total value of $1,176,092.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,592,854 shares in the company, valued at $43,803,485. The trade was a 2.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Gary W. Staley sold 24,237 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.93, for a total transaction of $579,991.41. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,267 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,260,869.31. This trade represents a 15.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 516,765 shares of company stock worth $13,306,119. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viavi Solutions

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VIAV. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Viavi Solutions by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,620,410 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $278,356,000 after buying an additional 664,956 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in Viavi Solutions by 16.6% in the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 8,213,451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $82,709,000 after acquiring an additional 1,166,547 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Viavi Solutions by 3.5% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,846,226 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $86,875,000 after acquiring an additional 231,570 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in Viavi Solutions by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,673,145 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $118,915,000 after purchasing an additional 33,463 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Viavi Solutions by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,351,211 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $95,373,000 after purchasing an additional 20,776 shares during the last quarter. 95.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.