Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) Lowered to “Hold” at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has $12.50 price target on the communications equipment provider’s stock, down from their prior price target of $14.00.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on HLIT. Northland Securities reduced their price target on shares of Harmonic from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $18.00 target price on shares of Harmonic in a report on Tuesday. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their target price on Harmonic from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays cut their price target on Harmonic from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Raymond James downgraded Harmonic from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $17.00 to $14.00 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, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $15.25.

Harmonic Trading Down 25.1 %

NASDAQ:HLIT opened at $11.10 on Tuesday. Harmonic has a 1 year low of $9.10 and a 1 year high of $15.46. The stock has a market cap of $1.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.50 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.87. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.57.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.09. Harmonic had a return on equity of 0.27% and a net margin of 10.22%. The firm had revenue of $195.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $181.77 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.05) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 53.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Harmonic will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Harmonic

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Harmonic by 18.1% in the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 35,365 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $515,000 after purchasing an additional 5,414 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position 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 valued at $17,302,000 after buying an additional 642,033 shares during the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. grew its position in Harmonic by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 319,611 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,657,000 after buying an additional 16,558 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its stake in Harmonic by 274.2% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 8,439 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $123,000 after buying an additional 6,184 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Harmonic by 117.6% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,448 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 1,323 shares during the last quarter. 99.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.