Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV)

Viavi Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAV) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors bought 17,135 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 184% compared to the average daily volume of 6,024 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on VIAV. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Viavi Solutions in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. UBS Group dropped their target price on Viavi Solutions from $60.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $65.00 target price on Viavi Solutions in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered Viavi Solutions from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 29th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price target on Viavi Solutions from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.43.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Luke Scrivanich sold 35,866 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.24, for a total value of $1,299,783.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 39,598 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,435,031.52. The trade was a 47.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Ilan Daskal sold 56,290 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.29, for a total transaction of $2,042,764.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 10,132 shares in the company, valued at $367,690.28. The trade was a 84.75% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 199,694 shares of company stock worth $7,976,233. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viavi Solutions

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VIAV. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Viavi Solutions during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,228,529,000. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Viavi Solutions by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,620,410 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $278,356,000 after buying an additional 664,956 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Viavi Solutions during the second quarter worth approximately $134,922,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in Viavi Solutions by 0.5% during 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 buying an additional 33,463 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Viavi Solutions by 0.4% during 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 buying an additional 20,776 shares during the period. 95.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Viavi Solutions Trading Up 7.6%

Shares of VIAV traded up $3.41 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $48.19. The company had a trading volume of 3,825,545 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,047,133. Viavi Solutions has a fifty-two week low of $12.23 and a fifty-two week high of $60.43. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.28. The stock has a market cap of $11.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -320.77 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.04. Viavi Solutions had a positive return on equity of 19.60% and a negative net margin of 2.00%.The business had revenue of $443.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $432.62 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.13 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 52.5% on a year-over-year basis. Viavi Solutions has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.400-0.420 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Viavi Solutions will post 1.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Viavi Solutions Company Profile

Viavi Solutions Inc (NASDAQ: VIAV) develops test, measurement, and assurance technologies for communications networks, optical systems, and related industrial applications. Its solutions are used by network equipment manufacturers, communications service providers, contractors, and government organizations to install, validate, monitor, and maintain wired and wireless networks.

The company’s offerings include instruments and software for fiber-optic testing, network performance monitoring, service activation, troubleshooting, and assurance.