M&G PLC Buys 372,838 Shares of Viavi Solutions Inc. $VIAV

M&G PLC purchased a new stake in Viavi Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAV) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 372,838 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $15,659,000. M&G PLC owned 0.15% of Viavi Solutions as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Viavi Solutions during the second quarter valued at about $1,228,529,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Viavi Solutions by 1,402.9% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,639,752 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $236,418,000 after buying an additional 5,264,496 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of Viavi Solutions in the second quarter worth about $134,922,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Viavi Solutions in the second quarter worth about $87,914,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of Viavi Solutions in the first quarter worth about $75,294,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.54% of the company’s stock.

Viavi Solutions Stock Down 3.0%

Shares of Viavi Solutions stock opened at $31.01 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $36.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.76. The company has a market cap of $7.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 129.21 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Viavi Solutions Inc. has a 1 year low of $15.51 and a 1 year high of $60.43.

Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $469.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $455.06 million. Viavi Solutions had a return on equity of 25.36% and a net margin of 3.97%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 56.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.15 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Viavi Solutions Inc. will post 1.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Viavi Solutions

In other Viavi Solutions news, EVP Paul McNab sold 11,032 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.97, for a total value of $429,917.04. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 25,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $999,151.83. This represents a 30.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Laura A. Black sold 71,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.12, for a total transaction of $3,274,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 71,497 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,297,441.64. This represents a 49.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 198,099 shares of company stock valued at $7,916,628. 1.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on VIAV. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Viavi Solutions from a “sell (d)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday. Zacks Research lowered shares of Viavi Solutions from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 12th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Viavi Solutions from $44.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 5th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Viavi Solutions in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Finally, B. Riley Financial cut their target price 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. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Viavi Solutions presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.83.

About Viavi Solutions

Viavi Solutions Inc. develops testing, monitoring and assurance solutions for communications networks. Its products and software help service providers, equipment makers and enterprises build, maintain and troubleshoot fiber-optic, broadband, wireless and other network infrastructure, including technologies used in 5G and data centers. The company also makes optical technologies and security products, including features used to authenticate banknotes, identity documents and branded goods. These offerings support applications in areas such as anti-counterfeiting, document security and optical coatings.