Morgan Stanley Reiterates Underweight Rating for Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV)

Morgan Stanley reissued their underweight rating on shares of Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) in a research report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. Morgan Stanley currently has a $9.50 price target on the communications equipment provider’s stock, up from their prior price target of $8.00.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on VIAV. StockNews.com upgraded Viavi Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Viavi Solutions in a research note on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Viavi Solutions from $10.50 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Northland Securities increased their price target 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. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Viavi Solutions from $8.25 to $10.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.44.

Viavi Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of VIAV opened at $10.24 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -60.23 and a beta of 0.92. Viavi Solutions has a 12 month low of $6.60 and a 12 month high of $11.49. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $8.61. The company has a current ratio of 3.71, a quick ratio of 3.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91.

Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The communications equipment provider reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06. The company had revenue of $238.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $240.09 million. Viavi Solutions had a negative net margin of 3.78% and a positive return on equity of 2.22%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.05 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Viavi Solutions will post 0.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viavi Solutions

In other news, Director Masood Jabbar sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.17, for a total transaction of $137,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 213,514 shares in the company, valued at $1,957,923.38. The trade was a 6.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Luke M. Scrivanich sold 3,029 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.86, for a total value of $26,836.94. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 57,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $507,846.34. This trade represents a 5.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 35,831 shares of company stock worth $345,712 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Viavi Solutions by 65.2% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,290,197 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $22,604,000 after acquiring an additional 1,298,394 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Viavi Solutions by 12.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,818,337 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $39,972,000 after purchasing an additional 661,450 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Viavi Solutions by 9.2% in the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 7,203,703 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $49,489,000 after purchasing an additional 606,522 shares during the period. Leeward Investments LLC MA grew its position in shares of Viavi Solutions by 17.1% during the 3rd quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA now owns 1,705,653 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $15,385,000 after purchasing an additional 249,554 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Viavi Solutions by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,194,959 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,819,000 after purchasing an additional 217,399 shares in the last quarter. 95.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.