Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com lowered shares of Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Wednesday morning.

Several other research firms also recently commented on HLIT. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price target on shares of Harmonic from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on shares of Harmonic from $18.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Northland Securities cut their price target on shares of Harmonic from $14.00 to $12.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Harmonic from $14.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Harmonic in a report on Friday, February 21st. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $12.50.

Harmonic Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of Harmonic stock opened at $10.33 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.48. Harmonic has a 12-month low of $8.42 and a 12-month high of $15.46. The company has a current ratio of 2.18, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.30 and a beta of 0.87.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. Harmonic had a net margin of 5.78% and a return on equity of 15.90%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Harmonic will post 0.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Harmonic announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, February 10th that allows the company to repurchase $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the communications equipment provider to repurchase up to 15.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Harmonic

In other Harmonic news, Director David Krall acquired 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $9.78 per share, with a total value of $97,800.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 163,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,598,932.20. The trade was a 6.52 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Daniel T. Whalen acquired 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $10.15 per share, for a total transaction of $30,450.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 8,840 shares in the company, valued at $89,726. The trade was a 51.37 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have acquired 32,780 shares of company stock valued at $316,607. Insiders own 2.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Harmonic

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HLIT. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Harmonic during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Harmonic by 5,388.1% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 5,543 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 5,442 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its stake in shares of Harmonic by 14,765.9% during the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 6,095 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 6,054 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Harmonic by 84.8% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,295 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 2,888 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cresset Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Harmonic during the 4th quarter worth about $133,000. 99.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Harmonic Company Profile

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.