33,615 Shares in Viavi Solutions Inc. $VIAV Purchased by Versor Investments LP

Key Points

• Versor Investments LP opened a new position in Viavi Solutions, buying 33,615 shares worth about $599,000 in the fourth quarter.
• Institutional interest in VIAV remains high, with 95.54% of shares held by hedge funds and other institutions; several firms also increased their stakes during the quarter.
• Analysts are generally more bullish on the stock after recent updates, with multiple firms raising price targets and Viavi posting better-than-expected quarterly earnings and revenue on strong year-over-year growth.

Versor Investments LP acquired a new position in Viavi Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAV - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 33,615 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $599,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd raised its position in Viavi Solutions by 101.8% in the 4th quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 21,172 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $377,000 after purchasing an additional 10,678 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Viavi Solutions by 29.7% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 14,773 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $263,000 after purchasing an additional 3,386 shares during the period. Robeco Schweiz AG raised its position in Viavi Solutions by 32.2% in the 4th quarter. Robeco Schweiz AG now owns 595,000 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $10,603,000 after purchasing an additional 145,000 shares during the period. Strs Ohio bought a new position in Viavi Solutions in the 4th quarter worth about $159,000. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Viavi Solutions in the 4th quarter worth about $288,000. 95.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VIAV has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Viavi Solutions from $28.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Viavi Solutions from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. B. Riley Financial upped their target price on shares of Viavi Solutions from $26.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Viavi Solutions from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price 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. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $39.25.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Richard Belluzzo sold 15,775 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.85, for a total transaction of $423,558.75. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 211,850 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,688,172.50. This trade represents a 6.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through 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 shares were 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 owned 20,129 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,087,368.58. This trade represents a 29.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 476,959 shares of company stock valued at $24,582,112. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Viavi Solutions Price Performance

NASDAQ VIAV opened at $53.63 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.61. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $39.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.94. Viavi Solutions Inc. has a 52-week low of $8.87 and a 52-week high of $60.43. The company has a market cap of $12.54 billion, a PE ratio of -223.45 and a beta of 1.22.

Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.03. Viavi Solutions had a negative net margin of 4.03% and a positive return on equity of 16.80%. The firm had revenue of $406.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $393.80 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.15 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 42.8% on a year-over-year basis. Viavi Solutions has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.290-0.310 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Viavi Solutions Inc. will post 0.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Viavi Solutions Profile

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.

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