Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) Stock Bumped Up to “Strong-Buy” by Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Thursday morning,Zacks reports.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded Viavi Solutions from a “sell (d)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Monday, November 9th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on Viavi Solutions from $60.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 5th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $65.00 price target on shares of Viavi Solutions in a research note on Wednesday, September 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Viavi Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 7th. Finally, B. Riley Financial cut their price target on shares of Viavi Solutions from $63.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.83.

Viavi Solutions Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VIAV traded down $1.82 during trading on Thursday, reaching $30.72. 5,109,325 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,828,286. Viavi Solutions has a fifty-two week low of $15.51 and a fifty-two week high of $60.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market cap of $7.55 billion, a PE ratio of 128.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.94.

Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $469.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $455.06 million. Viavi Solutions had a return on equity of 25.36% and a net margin of 3.97%. Viavi Solutions’s revenue for the quarter was up 56.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.15 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Viavi Solutions will post 1.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Viavi Solutions

In other Viavi Solutions news, EVP Paul McNab sold 13,806 shares of Viavi Solutions stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.12, for a total transaction of $443,448.72. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 46,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,478,355.12. The trade was a 23.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Luke Scrivanich sold 35,866 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.24, for a total transaction of $1,299,783.84. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 39,598 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,435,031.52. The trade was a 47.53% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 211,905 shares of company stock worth $8,360,077. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Viavi Solutions

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Viavi Solutions in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,228,529,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Viavi Solutions by 1,402.9% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,639,752 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $236,418,000 after buying an additional 5,264,496 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in Viavi Solutions during the second quarter worth $134,922,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Viavi Solutions during the second quarter worth $87,914,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new stake in Viavi Solutions in the 1st quarter valued at $22,779,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.54% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Viavi Solutions

These are some of the VIAV headlines that stood out recently:

• Positive Sentiment: Viavi was upgraded to Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), reflecting improving earnings expectations. Viavi Solutions upgraded to Strong Buy
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage highlights a quarterly earnings beat, an upbeat Q2 outlook and growing data-center opportunities, supported by demand for optical testing. Analysts have also raised earnings estimates, adding to the growth case. Q1 results and Q2 outlook
• Negative Sentiment: EVP Paul McNab sold 13,806 shares for about $443,449, reducing his holdings by roughly 23%. The sale could weigh on sentiment, though an insider transaction alone does not establish the executive’s outlook for the company. SEC filing

About Viavi Solutions

Viavi Solutions Inc. develops testing, monitoring and assurance solutions for communications networks. Its products and software help service providers, equipment makers and enterprises build, maintain and troubleshoot fiber-optic, broadband, wireless and other network infrastructure, including technologies used in 5G and data centers. The company also makes optical technologies and security products, including features used to authenticate banknotes, identity documents and branded goods. These offerings support applications in areas such as anti-counterfeiting, document security and optical coatings.