Legal & General Group Plc Sells 27,628 Shares of Viavi Solutions Inc. $VIAV

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc reduced its Viavi Solutions stake by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, selling 27,628 shares and ending with 560,864 shares valued at about $10 million.
• Several other institutional investors also adjusted positions, and 95.54% of Viavi’s stock is owned by institutions, highlighting heavy professional ownership of the company.
• Analysts have turned more bullish on Viavi Solutions after its latest earnings beat estimates; the stock has a Moderate Buy consensus with an average target price of $39.25, while the shares recently traded around $53.21.

Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its stake in shares of Viavi Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAV - Free Report) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 560,864 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 27,628 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.24% of Viavi Solutions worth $9,995,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VIAV. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in Viavi Solutions by 11.5% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 183,320 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $2,051,000 after purchasing an additional 18,910 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Viavi Solutions by 110.5% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 33,663 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $377,000 after purchasing an additional 17,673 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in Viavi Solutions by 4.6% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 131,061 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,467,000 after purchasing an additional 5,775 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in Viavi Solutions by 205.4% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 476,767 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $5,335,000 after purchasing an additional 320,662 shares during the period. Finally, United Services Automobile Association bought a new position in Viavi Solutions during the first quarter worth $165,000. 95.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on VIAV shares. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Viavi Solutions from $28.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. B. Riley Financial boosted their target price 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. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Viavi Solutions from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Viavi Solutions from $25.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Viavi Solutions from $25.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $39.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viavi Solutions news, Director Doug Gilstrap sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.00, for a total transaction of $550,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 55,766 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,067,130. This represents a 15.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Kevin Christopher Siebert sold 8,255 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.02, for a total value of $445,935.10. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 20,129 shares in the company, valued at $1,087,368.58. The trade was a 29.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 450,369 shares of company stock valued at $23,789,119 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.80% of the company's stock.

Viavi Solutions Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of NASDAQ VIAV opened at $53.21 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $12.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -221.70 and a beta of 1.18. Viavi Solutions Inc. has a 12 month low of $9.08 and a 12 month high of $60.43. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $45.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.78.

Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV - Get Free Report) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $406.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $393.80 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.15 earnings per share. The business'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. As a group, analysts forecast that Viavi Solutions Inc. will post 0.73 earnings per share 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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