Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP Purchases 66,754 Shares of Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT)

Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP increased its position in shares of Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) by 20.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 399,987 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 66,754 shares during the quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP’s holdings in Harmonic were worth $5,292,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 valued at $146,368,000 after acquiring an additional 235,188 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in Harmonic during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $307,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Harmonic in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its position in Harmonic by 363.8% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 50,070 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $662,000 after buying an additional 39,275 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Harmonic by 128.3% during the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 441,356 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $5,839,000 after buying an additional 248,046 shares during the last quarter. 99.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Harmonic Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of HLIT opened at $10.19 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.18, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market cap of $1.19 billion, a PE ratio of 30.88 and a beta of 0.87. Harmonic Inc. has a 1 year low of $8.42 and a 1 year high of $15.46. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.41.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 10th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.38 earnings per share (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%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Harmonic Inc. will post 0.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Harmonic announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, February 10th that authorizes the company to buyback $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to reacquire up to 15.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on HLIT shares. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Harmonic in a research report on Friday, February 21st. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on shares of Harmonic from $18.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their target price on shares of Harmonic from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. 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 note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Northland Securities reduced their price objective on Harmonic from $14.00 to $12.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $12.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Harmonic

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