Barclays PLC Grows Stock Position in Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT)

Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 203,300 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,324 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC owned approximately 0.17% of Harmonic worth $2,690,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HLIT. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in shares of Harmonic by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 36,100 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $478,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC increased its position in Harmonic by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 30,154 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $399,000 after buying an additional 1,944 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Harmonic by 6.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 39,041 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $538,000 after acquiring an additional 2,207 shares during the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Harmonic by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 322,353 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,265,000 after acquiring an additional 2,742 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its position in Harmonic by 84.8% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,295 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 2,888 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on HLIT shares. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $14.00 price objective on shares of Harmonic in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Harmonic in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com upgraded Harmonic from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price objective on shares of Harmonic from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Harmonic in a research report on Friday, February 21st. They set a “hold” rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $12.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Walter Jankovic purchased 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $9.44 per share, with a total value of $113,280.00. Following the acquisition, 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 ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Daniel T. Whalen acquired 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $10.15 per share, for a total transaction of $30,450.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 8,840 shares in the company, valued at $89,726. This represents a 51.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders purchased 32,780 shares of company stock worth $316,607. 2.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Harmonic Stock Down 4.8 %

HLIT opened at $8.98 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.05 billion, a PE ratio of 27.21 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a current ratio of 2.18. Harmonic Inc. has a 1 year low of $7.91 and a 1 year high of $15.46. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $9.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.46.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.06. Harmonic had a net margin of 5.78% and a return on equity of 15.90%. The business had revenue of $133.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $127.51 million. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Harmonic Inc. will post 0.31 earnings per share for the current year.

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

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.