Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at StockNews.com

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Wednesday.

HLIT has been the subject of a number of other reports. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on Harmonic from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Harmonic in a research report on Friday, February 21st. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Northland Securities reduced their price target on Harmonic from $14.00 to $12.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays reduced their price target on Harmonic from $14.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on Harmonic from $18.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $12.50.

Harmonic Stock Performance

Shares of Harmonic stock opened at $10.34 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $10.94 and a 200 day moving average of $12.46. Harmonic has a 12 month low of $8.42 and a 12 month high of $15.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.33 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.18 and a quick ratio of 1.80.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. Harmonic had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 5.78%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Harmonic will post 0.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Harmonic announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, February 10th that allows the company to buyback $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the communications equipment provider to reacquire up to 15.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Harmonic

In other news, Director David Krall purchased 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $9.78 per share, with a total value of $97,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 163,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,598,932.20. This represents a 6.52 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Daniel T. Whalen purchased 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $10.15 per share, for a total transaction of $30,450.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 8,840 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $89,726. This trade represents a 51.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 32,780 shares of company stock valued at $316,607. Corporate insiders own 2.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Harmonic by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,063,328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $146,368,000 after purchasing an additional 235,188 shares during the last quarter. 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 valued at $103,045,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300,128 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Harmonic by 9,004.4% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 4,719,837 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $62,443,000 after buying an additional 4,667,996 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Harmonic by 0.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,675,268 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $38,986,000 after purchasing an additional 17,665 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in Harmonic by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,145,357 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,383,000 after purchasing an additional 175,133 shares in the last quarter. 99.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.