Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,000,000 shares, a growth of 6.5% from the May 31st total of 6,570,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,630,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.3 days. Approximately 6.1% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Ian Graham sold 52,730 shares of Harmonic stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.95, for a total value of $577,393.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 63,616 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $696,595.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Harmonic

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HLIT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Harmonic by 1.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,852,064 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $132,412,000 after acquiring an additional 166,018 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Harmonic by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,796,165 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $114,702,000 after purchasing an additional 990,425 shares during the period. Scopia Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Harmonic by 78.5% during the 3rd quarter. Scopia Capital Management LP now owns 5,649,163 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $54,401,000 after purchasing an additional 2,484,825 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Harmonic by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,389,426 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $44,198,000 after purchasing an additional 82,822 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kennedy Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Harmonic by 123.8% in the third quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 1,639,572 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $15,789,000 after purchasing an additional 907,106 shares during the period. 99.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $18.00 price target on shares of Harmonic in a research report on Monday, June 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $17.20.

Harmonic Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of Harmonic stock opened at $11.91 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.85 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $11.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $12.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.09. Harmonic has a one year low of $8.80 and a one year high of $16.39.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last posted 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). Harmonic had a return on equity of 1.35% and a net margin of 12.37%. The firm had revenue of $122.06 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $121.70 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.06 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Harmonic will post 0.36 earnings per share for the current year.

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.