Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 54,831 Shares of Viavi Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAV)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its holdings in Viavi Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAV) by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,046,054 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 54,831 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Viavi Solutions were worth $9,435,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Viavi Solutions by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 112,300 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $772,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC boosted its position in Viavi Solutions by 24.0% during the 3rd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 11,900 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $107,000 after acquiring an additional 2,300 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Viavi Solutions by 15.6% during the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 21,340 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $194,000 after acquiring an additional 2,883 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Viavi Solutions by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 44,645 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $406,000 after acquiring an additional 3,072 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Viavi Solutions in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. 95.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VIAV has been the topic of several recent research reports. Northland Securities upped their price target on Viavi Solutions from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Viavi Solutions from $8.25 to $10.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Viavi Solutions in a research note on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Viavi Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Viavi Solutions from $13.00 to $10.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.42.

Viavi Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of Viavi Solutions stock opened at $9.80 on Tuesday. Viavi Solutions Inc. has a 1 year low of $6.60 and a 1 year high of $11.32. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $9.21 and its 200 day moving average is $8.17. The stock has a market cap of $2.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -57.64 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 3.71 and a quick ratio of 3.31.

Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The communications equipment provider reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.06. Viavi Solutions had a negative net margin of 3.78% and a positive return on equity of 2.22%. The firm had revenue of $238.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $240.09 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.05 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Viavi Solutions Inc. will post 0.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Viavi Solutions

In other Viavi Solutions news, SVP Kevin Christopher Siebert sold 8,432 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.63, for a total transaction of $72,768.16. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 56,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $488,604.71. This represents a 12.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Masood Jabbar sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.17, for a total transaction of $245,100.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 243,514 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,989,509.38. The trade was a 10.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 93,652 shares of company stock valued at $817,585. 1.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Viavi Solutions Profile

Viavi Solutions Inc provides network test, monitoring, and assurance solutions for communications service providers, hyperscalers, network equipment manufacturers, original equipment manufacturers, government, and avionics customers in the Americas, the Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.