Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) Shares Down 6.6% After Insider Selling

Key Points

• Viavi Solutions shares fell 6.6% to about $38.66 after director Laura A. Black sold 71,000 shares for approximately $3.27 million, reducing her position by nearly 50%.
• Analyst sentiment remains generally positive: the stock has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $49.88, despite several analysts lowering their targets to around $60.
• Viavi recently exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting adjusted EPS of $0.34 versus $0.30 expected and revenue of $443.1 million, up 52.5% year over year; institutional investors own 95.54% of its shares.

Viavi Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAV - Get Free Report) fell 6.6% during mid-day trading on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $38.81 and last traded at $38.6580. 1,970,585 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 6,252,110 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.37.

Specifically, Director Laura A. Black sold 71,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.12, for a total value of $3,274,520.00. Following the sale, the director owned 71,497 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,297,441.64. The trade was a 49.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on Viavi Solutions from $68.00 to $60.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Viavi Solutions from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday. B. Riley Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Viavi Solutions from $63.00 to $60.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Viavi Solutions from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Viavi Solutions from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given 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, Viavi Solutions currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $49.88.

Viavi Solutions Stock Down 6.4%

The stock has a market cap of $9.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -257.78 and a beta of 1.22. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $43.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.62.

Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.04. Viavi Solutions had a positive return on equity of 19.60% and a negative net margin of 2.00%.The business had revenue of $443.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $432.62 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.13 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 52.5% on a year-over-year basis. Viavi Solutions has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.400-0.420 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Viavi Solutions Inc. will post 1.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viavi Solutions

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Viavi Solutions during the 2nd quarter worth $1,228,529,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in Viavi Solutions by 431.1% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,639,682 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $84,258,000 after buying an additional 5,389,435 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Viavi Solutions in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $134,922,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new position in shares of Viavi Solutions in the first quarter valued at approximately $75,294,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Viavi Solutions by 116.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,809,513 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $67,886,000 after acquiring an additional 2,045,702 shares during the period. 95.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Viavi Solutions

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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