Viavi Solutions Inc. $VIAV Shares Sold by Earnest Partners LLC

Key Points

• Earnest Partners LLC has reduced its stake in Viavi Solutions Inc. by 42.1%, selling 629,393 shares and now holding approximately 0.39% of the company, valued at $9.69 million.
• Despite the sale by Earnest Partners LLC, other institutional investors have increased their stakes, with KBC Group NV raising its position by 38.1% and GAMMA Investing LLC increasing its holdings by an impressive 1,429.1%.
• Viavi Solutions reported earnings of $0.13 per share, beating analysts' expectations; the company also achieved a revenue of $290.50 million for the quarter, marking a 15.3% year-over-year increase.

Earnest Partners LLC decreased its position in Viavi Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAV - Free Report) by 42.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 865,919 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 629,393 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC owned about 0.39% of Viavi Solutions worth $9,690,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new stake in shares of Viavi Solutions in the first quarter valued at about $53,000. AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Viavi Solutions in the first quarter valued at about $55,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Viavi Solutions by 29.1% in the first quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 5,046 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 1,138 shares in the last quarter. Worth Venture Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Viavi Solutions in the first quarter valued at about $112,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Viavi Solutions by 31.3% in the first quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 10,928 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $123,000 after acquiring an additional 2,605 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.54% of the company's stock.

Viavi Solutions Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VIAV traded up $0.01 on Friday, hitting $11.28. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,360,797 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,910,602. Viavi Solutions Inc. has a 12-month low of $7.80 and a 12-month high of $12.91. The company has a market capitalization of $2.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.50 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $10.40 and a 200-day moving average of $10.30.

Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.01. Viavi Solutions had a net margin of 3.21% and a return on equity of 8.02%. The company had revenue of $290.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $285.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.08 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Viavi Solutions has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.130-0.14 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Viavi Solutions Inc. will post 0.26 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on VIAV. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and set a $13.50 price objective on shares of Viavi Solutions in a report on Friday, June 20th. Susquehanna raised shares of Viavi Solutions from a "neutral" rating to a "positive" rating and set a $15.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, August 8th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Viavi Solutions from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Viavi Solutions from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Viavi Solutions from $8.60 to $9.30 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $13.31.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Richard Belluzzo sold 8,385 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.02, for a total value of $84,017.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 242,311 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,427,956.22. The trade was a 3.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.52% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Viavi Solutions

Viavi Solutions, Inc engages in the provision of network test, monitoring, and assurance solutions for communications service providers, enterprises, network equipment manufacturers, government and avionics. It operates through the following segments: Network Enablement, Service Enablement, and Optical Security and Performance.