Kennedy Capital Management LLC Has $5.64 Million Stock Holdings in Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT)

Kennedy Capital Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) by 41.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 426,362 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 296,004 shares during the period. Kennedy Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Harmonic were worth $5,641,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of HLIT. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in Harmonic by 5,388.1% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 5,543 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 5,442 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its stake in shares of Harmonic by 14,765.9% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings 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 valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 2,888 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new position in shares of Harmonic in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $137,000. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Harmonic in the 4th quarter worth approximately $146,000. Institutional investors own 99.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Harmonic

In other Harmonic news, Director Daniel T. Whalen bought 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $10.15 per share, for a total transaction of $30,450.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 8,840 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,726. The trade was a 51.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Walter Jankovic acquired 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $9.44 per share, for a total transaction of $113,280.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now owns 46,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $435,457.76. This trade represents a 35.16 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired 32,780 shares of company stock valued at $316,607 in the last 90 days. 2.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HLIT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Northland Securities dropped their price target on shares of Harmonic from $14.00 to $12.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Harmonic from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Harmonic from $14.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price objective on Harmonic from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Harmonic in a research note 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $12.50.

Harmonic Stock Performance

NASDAQ:HLIT opened at $8.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a current ratio of 2.18. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $9.98 and its 200-day moving average is $11.89. Harmonic Inc. has a 52-week low of $7.91 and a 52-week high of $15.46. The company has a market cap of $1.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.12 and a beta of 0.92.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. Harmonic had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 5.78%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Harmonic Inc. will post 0.31 earnings per share for the current year.

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

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.