Needham & Company LLC Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) Stock Price

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) had its price objective lowered by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC from $18.00 to $14.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 47.21% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on HLIT. Barclays cut Harmonic from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $17.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 price target on shares of Harmonic in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Harmonic from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $17.00 to $14.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Harmonic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $14.00 to $12.50 in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Northland Securities decreased their price objective on shares of Harmonic from $14.00 to $12.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Harmonic currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $12.50.

Harmonic Stock Performance

Shares of HLIT opened at $9.51 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $12.47 and a 200-day moving average of $13.09. The company has a market cap of $1.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.03 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 2.08. Harmonic has a 1 year low of $8.42 and a 1 year high of $15.46.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. Harmonic had a net margin of 13.62% and a return on equity of 7.56%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Harmonic will post 0.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Harmonic declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program 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 buy up to 15.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Harmonic

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Harmonic by 117.6% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,448 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 1,323 shares in 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 acquiring an additional 6,054 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Harmonic by 84.8% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,295 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 2,888 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Harmonic by 274.2% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 8,439 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $123,000 after purchasing an additional 6,184 shares during the period. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Harmonic during the fourth quarter valued at $137,000. 99.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.