Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC Cuts Holdings in Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT)

Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 33,329 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,900 shares during the period. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Harmonic were worth $442,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Harmonic by 117.6% during the 3rd 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. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Harmonic by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 12,671 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $185,000 after buying an additional 1,647 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Harmonic by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 30,154 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $399,000 after buying an additional 1,944 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Harmonic by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 39,041 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $538,000 after buying an additional 2,207 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stanley Laman Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Harmonic by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 322,353 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,265,000 after buying an additional 2,742 shares in the last quarter. 99.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Northland Securities dropped their price target on shares of Harmonic from $14.00 to $12.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Harmonic from $14.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Raymond James lowered shares of Harmonic from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $17.00 to $14.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Harmonic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $14.00 to $12.50 in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Harmonic from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $12.50.

Harmonic Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:HLIT opened at $10.06 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $12.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.78 and a beta of 0.89. Harmonic Inc. has a one year low of $8.42 and a one year high of $15.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 1.62.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Harmonic Inc. will post 0.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Harmonic declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan 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 plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Harmonic

In other Harmonic news, CEO Nimrod Ben-Natan bought 7,780 shares of Harmonic stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $9.65 per share, with a total value of $75,077.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 347,797 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,356,241.05. This trade represents a 2.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David Krall bought 10,000 shares of Harmonic stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $9.78 per share, for a total transaction of $97,800.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 163,490 shares in the company, valued at $1,598,932.20. The trade was a 6.52 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 29,780 shares of company stock valued at $286,157. Insiders own 2.36% 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.