Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) Earns “Buy” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a $18.00 price objective on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Raymond James dropped their target price on Harmonic from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a strong-buy rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Harmonic from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Harmonic from a c rating to a b rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities cut their price objective on Harmonic from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Buy and an average target price of $17.20.

Harmonic Trading Down 3.1 %

Harmonic stock opened at $9.68 on Wednesday. Harmonic has a 52 week low of $8.80 and a 52 week high of $18.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.63 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $12.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.73.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.03. Harmonic had a return on equity of 4.71% and a net margin of 13.82%. The business had revenue of $167.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $158.98 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.12 earnings per share. Harmonic’s revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Harmonic will post 0.32 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Neven Haltmayer sold 14,747 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.68, for a total value of $201,738.96. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 156,559 shares in the company, valued at $2,141,727.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Harmonic news, SVP Nimrod Ben-Natan sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.91, for a total transaction of $1,291,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 302,214 shares in the company, valued at $3,901,582.74. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Neven Haltmayer sold 14,747 shares of Harmonic stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.68, for a total transaction of $201,738.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 156,559 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,141,727.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 150,000 shares of company stock worth $1,917,122. 2.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HLIT. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in Harmonic by 237.8% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,591 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 1,824 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its stake in Harmonic by 411.4% during the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,866 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 3,110 shares during the period. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Harmonic by 80.5% in the 4th quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 3,271 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 1,459 shares during the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC increased its position in Harmonic by 2,615.0% in the 1st quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 3,258 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 3,138 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Harmonic during the second quarter worth approximately $65,000. 99.38% of the stock is currently 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.