Harmonic’s (HLIT) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their buy rating on shares of Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) in a research note published on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a $14.00 price objective on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Barclays dropped their price objective 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. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Harmonic in a report on Friday, February 21st. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on Harmonic from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Northland Securities cut their price target on Harmonic from $14.00 to $12.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Harmonic from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Harmonic presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $12.33.

Harmonic Trading Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ HLIT opened at $9.43 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.58 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a current ratio of 2.18. Harmonic has a one year low of $7.91 and a one year high of $15.46. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $9.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $11.48.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $133.14 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $127.51 million. Harmonic had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 5.78%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Harmonic will post 0.31 EPS for the current year.

Harmonic declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Monday, February 10th that allows the company to repurchase $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the communications equipment provider to repurchase up to 15.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Harmonic

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Harmonic

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HLIT. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Harmonic by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 583,943 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,600,000 after buying an additional 15,756 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in shares of Harmonic by 49.5% in the first quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 74,832 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $718,000 after acquiring an additional 24,762 shares during the last quarter. Bouvel Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Harmonic by 1.8% during the first quarter. Bouvel Investment Partners LLC now owns 120,524 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,156,000 after acquiring an additional 2,079 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Harmonic by 33.0% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 348,382 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,341,000 after purchasing an additional 86,390 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in Harmonic by 44.3% during the first quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 52,100 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $500,000 after purchasing an additional 16,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.38% of the company’s stock.

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.