Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 29,621 Shares of Viavi Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAV)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Viavi Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAV) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,075,675 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 29,621 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.48% of Viavi Solutions worth $10,864,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VIAV. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Viavi Solutions in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. KBC Group NV raised its stake in Viavi Solutions by 53.0% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,388 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 3,252 shares in the last quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. acquired a new position in Viavi Solutions in the third quarter valued at about $95,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its position in Viavi Solutions by 15.4% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 13,442 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $136,000 after purchasing an additional 1,792 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its stake in Viavi Solutions by 44.1% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 15,938 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $144,000 after buying an additional 4,875 shares in the last quarter. 95.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Viavi Solutions news, SVP Luke M. Scrivanich sold 2,802 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.43, for a total value of $29,224.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 54,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $568,612.31. This represents a 4.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Masood Jabbar sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.01, for a total transaction of $300,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 180,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,805,133.33. The trade was a 14.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Viavi Solutions Price Performance

Shares of VIAV opened at $11.18 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.83. Viavi Solutions Inc. has a 12-month low of $6.60 and a 12-month high of $12.91. The stock has a market cap of $2.48 billion, a PE ratio of -62.11 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 3.18, a current ratio of 3.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on VIAV shares. Argus boosted their target price on shares of Viavi Solutions from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Viavi Solutions from $8.25 to $10.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group raised their target price on Viavi Solutions from $10.60 to $11.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut Viavi Solutions from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $13.00 price objective (up from $12.00) on shares of Viavi Solutions in a research note on Friday, January 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Viavi Solutions presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.33.

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.