Pete Smith Sells 17,086 Shares of Aviat Networks (NASDAQ:AVNW) Stock

Aviat Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVNW) CEO Pete Smith sold 17,086 shares of Aviat Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.33, for a total value of $449,874.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 358,747 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,445,808.51. This represents a 4.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Aviat Networks Stock Performance

Shares of AVNW stock opened at $25.92 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $334.42 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.14 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $22.06 and a 200 day moving average of $22.46. Aviat Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $15.80 and a 52 week high of $27.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Aviat Networks (NASDAQ:AVNW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.06. Aviat Networks had a net margin of 3.27% and a return on equity of 10.71%. The business had revenue of $111.47 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.67 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Aviat Networks, Inc. will post 0.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Aviat Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Western Standard LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aviat Networks by 84.5% during the fourth quarter. Western Standard LLC now owns 494,238 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,567,000 after purchasing an additional 226,332 shares in the last quarter. Weber Capital Management LLC ADV bought a new position in Aviat Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,099,000. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Aviat Networks by 67.6% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 285,868 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $6,555,000 after acquiring an additional 115,298 shares during the period. First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Aviat Networks by 22.2% during the 2nd quarter. First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. now owns 531,398 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $12,780,000 after acquiring an additional 96,367 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kennedy Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Aviat Networks by 29.4% in the second quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 421,663 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $10,141,000 after acquiring an additional 95,884 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on AVNW. Lake Street Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of Aviat Networks in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Aviat Networks in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Roth Mkm decreased their price objective on Aviat Networks from $41.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Aviat Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Aviat Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.80.

About Aviat Networks

Aviat Networks, Inc is a specialist in wireless transport solutions, designing, manufacturing and selling microwave networking products that enable the secure and reliable transmission of data, voice and video. The company’s offerings address mission-critical communications needs for a broad range of end markets, including telecommunications service providers, utilities, government agencies and enterprises. Its product portfolio spans high-capacity packet microwave radios, IP transport systems and network management software.

Aviat’s core product lines include the WTM series of packet microwave platforms, which deliver scalable throughput and advanced resilience features, and the Eclipse packet microwave systems, which combine broadband capacity with synchronization, security and quality-of-service capabilities.