Needham & Company LLC Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT)

Needham & Company LLC restated their buy rating on shares of Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) in a report published on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $18.00 target price on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

Several other analysts have also commented on HLIT. Barclays lifted their price objective on Harmonic from $14.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $18.00 target price on shares of Harmonic in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $15.25.

Harmonic Price Performance

NASDAQ HLIT opened at $10.96 on Tuesday. Harmonic has a one year low of $9.10 and a one year high of $15.46. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $13.90 and a 200 day moving average of $12.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 2.08. The company has a market capitalization of $1.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.01 and a beta of 0.87.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $195.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $181.77 million. Harmonic had a net margin of 13.62% and a return on equity of 7.56%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 53.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.05) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Harmonic will post 0.49 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Harmonic

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HLIT. Clearline Capital LP increased its stake in Harmonic by 777.6% in the 2nd quarter. Clearline Capital LP now owns 1,570,461 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $18,484,000 after buying an additional 1,391,504 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC grew its position in shares of Harmonic by 1,276.3% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 1,203,297 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $16,172,000 after purchasing an additional 1,115,870 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in Harmonic by 1,952.4% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 978,127 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $11,513,000 after purchasing an additional 930,469 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Harmonic during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $7,687,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Harmonic by 117.7% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,187,528 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $17,302,000 after purchasing an additional 642,033 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.38% of the company’s stock.

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.