Rosenblatt Securities Cuts Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) Price Target to $12.00

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) had its price target trimmed by Rosenblatt Securities from $16.00 to $12.00 in a research note published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

HLIT has been the subject of several other research reports. Raymond James cut shares of Harmonic from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $17.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Harmonic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $14.00 to $12.50 in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Harmonic from $14.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on shares of Harmonic from $18.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Northland Securities dropped their price target on shares of Harmonic from $14.00 to $12.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Harmonic has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $12.50.

Harmonic Price Performance

Shares of Harmonic stock opened at $9.79 on Tuesday. Harmonic has a 52-week low of $8.42 and a 52-week high of $15.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.41 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a fifty day moving average of $12.47 and a 200-day moving average of $13.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 2.08.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last announced 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Harmonic will post 0.52 EPS for the current year.

Harmonic declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its stake in shares of Harmonic by 174.7% in the 4th quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 69,983 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $926,000 after acquiring an additional 44,510 shares in the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Harmonic during the 4th quarter valued at about $165,000. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Harmonic during the 4th quarter valued at about $467,000. Guggenheim Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Harmonic during the 4th quarter valued at about $328,000. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in Harmonic by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 203,300 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,690,000 after purchasing an additional 1,324 shares during the last quarter. 99.38% of the stock is currently owned by 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.