Kennedy Capital Management LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT)

Kennedy Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) by 38.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 763,163 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 483,478 shares during the quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Harmonic were worth $10,257,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in HLIT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Harmonic by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,852,064 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $132,412,000 after acquiring an additional 166,018 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Harmonic by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,796,165 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $114,702,000 after buying an additional 990,425 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Harmonic by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,389,426 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $44,198,000 after buying an additional 82,822 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new position in shares of Harmonic in the 4th quarter worth about $19,257,000. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its position in Harmonic by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,355,274 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $18,215,000 after acquiring an additional 57,002 shares during the period. 99.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Harmonic

In other Harmonic news, SVP Ian Graham sold 52,730 shares of Harmonic stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.95, for a total value of $577,393.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 63,616 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $696,595.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on HLIT. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Harmonic from $14.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $18.00 price objective on shares of Harmonic in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $18.00 target price on shares of Harmonic in a report on Thursday, July 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $18.80.

Harmonic Stock Up 21.2 %

Shares of HLIT traded up $2.49 on Tuesday, hitting $14.24. 6,775,281 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,716,030. The company has a market capitalization of $1.60 billion, a PE ratio of 24.72 and a beta of 0.89. Harmonic Inc. has a one year low of $8.80 and a one year high of $15.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.09. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $12.01.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $138.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $133.67 million. Harmonic had a return on equity of 1.35% and a net margin of 12.37%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.07 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Harmonic Inc. will post 0.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.