Harmonic’s (HLIT) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at Needham & Company LLC

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

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

Harmonic Trading Down 2.0 %

NASDAQ HLIT opened at $10.03 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $12.83 and a 200 day moving average of $11.75. The company has a market capitalization of $1.12 billion, a PE ratio of 14.13 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Harmonic has a 1 year low of $8.80 and a 1 year high of $18.43.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Nimrod Ben-Natan sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.91, for a total transaction of $1,291,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 302,214 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,901,582.74. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Harmonic news, SVP Neven Haltmayer sold 10,558 shares of Harmonic stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.11, for a total transaction of $138,415.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 171,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,245,821.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Nimrod Ben-Natan sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 302,214 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,901,582.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 150,000 shares of company stock worth $1,917,122 over the last 90 days. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Harmonic

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HLIT. Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in Harmonic by 9.8% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 98,410 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $915,000 after acquiring an additional 8,751 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Harmonic by 11.1% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 17,132 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $160,000 after purchasing an additional 1,710 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Harmonic by 41.4% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 44,310 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $412,000 after buying an additional 12,980 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its position in Harmonic by 2.7% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 265,630 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,468,000 after buying an additional 6,932 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its stake in Harmonic by 14.5% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 88,761 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $825,000 after buying an additional 11,240 shares during the last quarter. 99.38% of the stock is 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.