Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) Shares Down 9.3% – Here’s Why

Viavi Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAV)’s share price dropped 9.3% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $31.41 and last traded at $31.8430. Approximately 3,881,230 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 39% from the average session volume of 6,316,617 shares. The stock had previously closed at $35.10.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on VIAV. Weiss Ratings lowered Viavi Solutions from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Viavi Solutions in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Viavi Solutions from $25.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Viavi Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, B. Riley Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Viavi Solutions from $26.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.88.

Viavi Solutions Stock Down 4.4%

The firm has a market cap of $7.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -139.30 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $46.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.01.

Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.03. Viavi Solutions had a positive return on equity of 16.80% and a negative net margin of 4.03%.The firm had revenue of $406.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $393.80 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.15 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 42.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Viavi Solutions Inc. will post 0.73 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Viavi Solutions

In other news, EVP Paul Mcnab sold 2,727 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.96, for a total transaction of $149,875.92. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 15,471 shares in the company, valued at $850,286.16. This represents a 14.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Kevin Christopher Siebert sold 8,255 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.02, for a total transaction of $445,935.10. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 20,129 shares in the company, valued at $1,087,368.58. This represents a 29.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 450,369 shares of company stock worth $23,789,119 in the last quarter. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viavi Solutions

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of VIAV. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Viavi Solutions during the 4th quarter worth $1,803,000. Phocas Financial Corp. acquired a new position in Viavi Solutions in the fourth quarter valued at $3,772,000. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Viavi Solutions in the fourth quarter valued at $1,887,000. Tensor Edge Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Viavi Solutions during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,673,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Viavi Solutions by 22.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 400,886 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,087,000 after acquiring an additional 72,930 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.54% of the company’s stock.

About Viavi Solutions

Viavi Solutions Inc is a provider of network test, monitoring and assurance solutions for communications service providers, cable operators, enterprises and government agencies. The company offers an extensive portfolio of fiber optic and copper cable test and measurement instruments, wireless network testing equipment and network performance monitoring software. Its products are designed to support the deployment, maintenance and optimization of high-speed broadband, 5G wireless, data center and enterprise networks.

Viavi’s product offerings are organized into two primary segments: Network & Service Enablement and Optical Security & Performance.