Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV)

Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $15.00 target price on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 60.60% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on VIAV. B. Riley upped their price objective on Viavi Solutions from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Argus upped their price target on shares of Viavi Solutions from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price objective on shares of Viavi Solutions from $14.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $13.00 target price (up from $12.00) on shares of Viavi Solutions in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Viavi Solutions from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Viavi Solutions presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $12.69.

Viavi Solutions Trading Down 12.3 %

Shares of VIAV stock opened at $9.34 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.07 billion, a P/E ratio of -51.89 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 3.55, a quick ratio of 3.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $10.64 and its 200 day moving average is $10.53. Viavi Solutions has a 12-month low of $6.60 and a 12-month high of $12.91.

Insider Transactions at Viavi Solutions

In other Viavi Solutions news, SVP Luke M. Scrivanich sold 14,323 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.24, for a total value of $160,990.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 55,877 shares in the company, valued at $628,057.48. This represents a 20.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Paul Mcnab sold 9,034 shares of Viavi Solutions stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.09, for a total transaction of $100,187.06. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 38,775 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,014.75. The trade was a 18.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 37,164 shares of company stock valued at $411,122 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viavi Solutions

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Viavi Solutions by 26.3% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 19,614,684 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $198,108,000 after purchasing an additional 4,085,648 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Viavi Solutions by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,524,395 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $106,297,000 after buying an additional 171,746 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its holdings in Viavi Solutions by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 7,040,890 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $70,972,000 after buying an additional 112,978 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Viavi Solutions by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,398,610 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $64,626,000 after buying an additional 620,773 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Viavi Solutions by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,475,819 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $35,106,000 after acquiring an additional 435,265 shares during the last quarter. 95.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Viavi Solutions

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.