Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Acquires Shares of 91,600 Viavi Solutions Inc. $VIAV

Key Points

• Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired 91,600 Viavi Solutions shares in the first quarter, worth approximately $3.05 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 95.54% of the company.
• Viavi reported quarterly earnings of $0.27 per share, beating estimates of $0.24, while revenue rose 42.8% year over year to $406.8 million. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating with an average price target of $42.88.
• Insiders sold 450,369 shares worth approximately $23.8 million over the past 90 days, including significant sales by CEO Oleg Khaykin and Director Doug Gilstrap.

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new position in shares of Viavi Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAV - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 91,600 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,048,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. WPG Advisers LLC raised its holdings in Viavi Solutions by 96.2% in the first quarter. WPG Advisers LLC now owns 775 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Viavi Solutions by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 11,400 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $204,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares in the last quarter. Lido Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Viavi Solutions by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 24,555 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $438,000 after acquiring an additional 473 shares in the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its position in shares of Viavi Solutions by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 32,572 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $580,000 after purchasing an additional 478 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its position in shares of Viavi Solutions by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 51,094 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $910,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. 95.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Viavi Solutions

In related news, CEO Oleg Khaykin sold 136,547 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.82, for a total value of $7,075,865.54. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,188,798 shares in the company, valued at $61,603,512.36. This trade represents a 10.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Doug Gilstrap sold 10,000 shares of Viavi Solutions stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.00, for a total value of $550,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 55,766 shares in the company, valued at $3,067,130. The trade was a 15.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 450,369 shares of company stock worth $23,789,119 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VIAV has been the topic of several research analyst reports. 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. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Viavi Solutions from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. B. Riley Financial upped their price objective on Viavi Solutions from $26.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Viavi Solutions in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Viavi Solutions from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $42.88.

Viavi Solutions Trading Up 8.7%

NASDAQ:VIAV opened at $35.05 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.20 billion, a P/E ratio of -146.04 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $45.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.39. Viavi Solutions Inc. has a 12-month low of $9.61 and a 12-month high of $60.43.

Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $406.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $393.80 million. Viavi Solutions had a positive return on equity of 16.80% and a negative net margin of 4.03%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 42.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.15 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Viavi Solutions Inc. will post 0.73 EPS for the current year.

Viavi Solutions Company 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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