Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) Stock Price Down 9.3% – Time to Sell?

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VIAV. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Viavi Solutions in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Viavi Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Viavi Solutions from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Viavi Solutions from $25.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, B. Riley Financial lifted their price target on shares of Viavi Solutions from $26.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a 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 MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.88.

Viavi Solutions Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $45.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -146.04 and a beta of 1.18.

Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $406.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $393.80 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.15 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 42.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Viavi Solutions Inc. will post 0.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Viavi Solutions news, CEO Oleg Khaykin sold 136,547 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.82, for a total value of $7,075,865.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,188,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $61,603,512.36. The trade was a 10.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Paul Mcnab sold 2,727 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.96, for a total transaction of $149,875.92. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 15,471 shares in the company, valued at $850,286.16. The trade was a 14.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 450,369 shares of company stock worth $23,789,119. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Viavi Solutions

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in Viavi Solutions by 431.1% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,639,682 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $84,258,000 after buying an additional 5,389,435 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Viavi Solutions in the 1st quarter valued at $75,294,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Viavi Solutions by 116.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,809,513 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $67,886,000 after buying an additional 2,045,702 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of Viavi Solutions by 1,011.9% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,187,600 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $38,983,000 after acquiring an additional 1,990,848 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bowen Hanes & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Viavi Solutions during the fourth quarter worth $33,323,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.