Barclays Cuts Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) Price Target to $10.00

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) had its price objective cut by Barclays from $14.00 to $10.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on HLIT. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $16.00 price objective on shares of Harmonic in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on Harmonic from $18.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Raymond James lowered Harmonic from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $17.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Harmonic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $14.00 to $12.50 in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Northland Securities lowered their target price on Harmonic from $14.00 to $12.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Harmonic currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $12.50.

Harmonic Price Performance

HLIT opened at $9.79 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $12.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $13.09. Harmonic has a 12-month low of $8.42 and a 12-month high of $15.46. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.41 and a beta of 0.89.

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

Harmonic declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Monday, February 10th that permits the company to repurchase $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits 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 believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Harmonic

In related news, Director David Krall purchased 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $9.78 per share, for a total transaction of $97,800.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 163,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,598,932.20. This represents a 6.52 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Walter Jankovic purchased 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $9.44 per share, for a total transaction of $113,280.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,129 shares in the company, valued at $435,457.76. The trade was a 35.16 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders bought 29,780 shares of company stock valued at $286,157. Corporate insiders own 2.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Harmonic

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HLIT. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Harmonic by 20.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,788,714 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $103,045,000 after buying an additional 1,300,128 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 642,033 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Harmonic by 85.1% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,208,829 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $17,613,000 after buying an additional 555,737 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Harmonic by 175.9% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 681,425 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $9,015,000 after purchasing an additional 434,481 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Harmonic during the 4th quarter valued at $4,292,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.38% of the company’s stock.

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.