Raymond James Financial Inc. Takes Position in Viavi Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAV)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Viavi Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAV - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 71,109 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $718,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VIAV. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Viavi Solutions by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,334,893 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $33,682,000 after acquiring an additional 139,934 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its position in Viavi Solutions by 185.5% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 111,730 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,132,000 after buying an additional 72,599 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Viavi Solutions by 836.2% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 8,323 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $84,000 after acquiring an additional 7,434 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Viavi Solutions by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 43,732 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $442,000 after acquiring an additional 2,277 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Viavi Solutions by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,075,675 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $10,864,000 after purchasing an additional 29,621 shares in the last quarter. 95.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP James L. Veler, Jr. sold 13,807 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.86, for a total transaction of $149,944.02. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Richard Belluzzo sold 8,385 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.92, for a total transaction of $74,794.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 259,081 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,311,002.52. The trade was a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 45,549 shares of company stock worth $485,916 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.52% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VIAV has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Viavi Solutions from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of Viavi Solutions from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Viavi Solutions from $11.50 to $11.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. B. Riley reduced their price objective on Viavi Solutions from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Argus increased their target price on Viavi Solutions from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $12.69.

Viavi Solutions Price Performance

Shares of VIAV traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $9.20. 1,962,994 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,833,817. The company has a quick ratio of 3.18, a current ratio of 3.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. Viavi Solutions Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $6.60 and a fifty-two week high of $12.91. The company has a market cap of $2.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -51.11 and a beta of 0.92. The firm's fifty day moving average is $10.43 and its 200 day moving average is $10.52.

Viavi Solutions Company Profile

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.