Viavi Solutions’ (VIAV) “Underweight” Rating Reiterated at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley reiterated their underweight rating on shares of Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) in a report issued on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Morgan Stanley currently has a $9.50 target price on the communications equipment provider’s stock, up from their prior target price of $8.00.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Viavi Solutions from $10.50 to $12.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Viavi Solutions in a research report on Monday. Northland Securities raised their target price on shares of Viavi Solutions from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Viavi Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, UBS Group began coverage on shares of Viavi Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $10.60 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.44.

Viavi Solutions Price Performance

Shares of VIAV stock opened at $10.24 on Tuesday. Viavi Solutions has a 52 week low of $6.60 and a 52 week high of $11.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.27 billion, a PE ratio of -60.23 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 3.31 and a current ratio of 3.71. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $9.93 and its 200-day moving average is $8.61.

Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The communications equipment provider reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $240.09 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.05 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Viavi Solutions will post 0.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viavi Solutions news, Director Masood Jabbar sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.14, for a total value of $152,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 225,333 shares in the company, valued at $2,284,876.62. This represents a 6.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Luke M. Scrivanich sold 2,802 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.43, for a total value of $29,224.86. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 54,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $568,612.31. This represents a 4.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 35,831 shares of company stock worth $345,712. Company insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Viavi Solutions

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Viavi Solutions in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in Viavi Solutions in the 2nd quarter worth $38,000. Quarry LP increased its holdings in Viavi Solutions by 419.7% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 7,229 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 5,838 shares in the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Viavi Solutions in the 2nd quarter valued at about $52,000. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 3,252 shares in the last quarter. 95.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.