Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) Given New $14.00 Price Target at Needham & Company LLC

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) had its price target trimmed by Needham & Company LLC from $18.00 to $14.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on HLIT. Barclays lowered shares of Harmonic from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $17.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Raymond James lowered shares of Harmonic from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $17.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 price target on shares of Harmonic in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Harmonic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $14.00 to $12.50 in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Northland Securities reduced 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $12.50.

Harmonic Stock Up 2.9 %

Harmonic stock opened at $9.79 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.41 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Harmonic has a twelve month low of $8.42 and a twelve month high of $15.46. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $12.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.09.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Harmonic will post 0.52 EPS for the current year.

Harmonic announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase 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 purchase up to 15.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Harmonic

In other Harmonic news, CFO Walter Jankovic acquired 12,000 shares of Harmonic stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $9.44 per share, for a total transaction of $113,280.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $435,457.76. This represents a 35.16 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Nimrod Ben-Natan acquired 7,780 shares of Harmonic stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $9.65 per share, with a total value of $75,077.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 347,797 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,356,241.05. The trade was a 2.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders purchased 29,780 shares of company stock valued at $286,157. Corporate insiders own 2.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Harmonic by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,063,328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $146,368,000 after acquiring an additional 235,188 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Harmonic by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,788,714 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $103,045,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300,128 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Harmonic by 0.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 17,665 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in Harmonic by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,145,357 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,383,000 after acquiring an additional 175,133 shares during the period. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP raised its position in Harmonic by 15.3% in the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,659,823 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $24,184,000 after acquiring an additional 219,685 shares during the period. 99.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.