Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) Given Buy Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $14.00 price target on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective points to a potential upside of 50.38% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on HLIT. Barclays decreased 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. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price objective on Harmonic from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Harmonic from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Northland Securities decreased their price objective on Harmonic from $14.00 to $12.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Harmonic in a report on Friday, February 21st. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Harmonic currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $12.33.

Harmonic Trading Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ:HLIT opened at $9.31 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.21 and a beta of 0.92. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $9.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.49. Harmonic has a 52 week low of $7.91 and a 52 week high of $15.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. Harmonic had a net margin of 5.78% and a return on equity of 15.90%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Harmonic will post 0.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Nimrod Ben-Natan purchased 7,780 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $9.65 per share, for a total transaction of $75,077.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 347,797 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,356,241.05. This represents a 2.29 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Walter Jankovic bought 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $9.44 per share, with a total value of $113,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 46,129 shares in the company, valued at $435,457.76. This represents a 35.16 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased 32,780 shares of company stock worth $316,607 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HLIT. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Harmonic in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in Harmonic by 5,388.1% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 5,543 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 5,442 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC increased its stake in shares of Harmonic by 14,765.9% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 6,095 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 6,054 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Harmonic by 84.8% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,295 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 2,888 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Harmonic by 415.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,612 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $898,000 after acquiring an additional 6,942 shares during the period. 99.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.