Analysts Set Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) Target Price at $17.20

Shares of Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the five ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $17.20.

HLIT has been the topic of several research reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $18.00 price target on shares of Harmonic in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Harmonic from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th.

Harmonic Stock Down 3.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ HLIT opened at $11.09 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $11.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.97. The company has a market cap of $1.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.48 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Harmonic has a 12-month low of $8.80 and a 12-month high of $18.43.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.05) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $122.06 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $121.70 million. Harmonic had a return on equity of 1.35% and a net margin of 12.37%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.06 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Harmonic will post 0.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Harmonic

In related news, SVP Ian Graham sold 52,730 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.95, for a total transaction of $577,393.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 63,616 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $696,595.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Harmonic

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Silverberg Bernstein Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Harmonic during the 4th quarter worth approximately $10,481,000. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Harmonic by 21.6% during the 4th quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 921,312 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $12,008,000 after acquiring an additional 163,882 shares in the last quarter. Ghisallo Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Harmonic during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,848,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new position in shares of Harmonic during the 4th quarter worth approximately $19,257,000. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Harmonic by 75.1% during the 4th quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,298,272 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $16,929,000 after acquiring an additional 556,875 shares in the last quarter. 99.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Harmonic

Harmonic Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides broadband solutions worldwide. The company operates through Broadband and Video segments. The Broadband segment sells broadband access solutions and related services, including cOS software-based broadband access solutions to broadband operators; and cOS central cloud services, a subscription service for cOS customers.