Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) Raised to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Needham & Company LLC lowered 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. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price target on Harmonic from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays lowered 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. Raymond James downgraded Harmonic from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $17.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Harmonic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $14.00 to $12.50 in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $12.50.

Harmonic Trading Up 2.8 %

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

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

Harmonic announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Monday, February 10th that authorizes the company to repurchase $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to reacquire up to 15.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Harmonic

In other Harmonic news, CEO Nimrod Ben-Natan purchased 7,780 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $9.65 per share, for a total transaction of $75,077.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Walter Jankovic purchased 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $9.44 per share, with a total value of $113,280.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now owns 46,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $435,457.76. This trade represents a 35.16 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders purchased 29,780 shares of company stock worth $286,157. Company insiders own 2.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Harmonic by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,063,328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $146,368,000 after purchasing an additional 235,188 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Harmonic by 20.0% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 17,665 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 175,133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Harmonic by 15.3% during the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,659,823 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $24,184,000 after buying an additional 219,685 shares in the last quarter. 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.