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

Needham & Company LLC restated their buy rating on shares of Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) in a report issued on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $18.00 target price on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on HLIT. Barclays raised their price objective on Harmonic from $14.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $18.00 target price on shares of Harmonic in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Buy and an average price target of $18.50.

Harmonic Trading Down 4.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ HLIT opened at $13.92 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $12.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.06. The company has a market cap of $1.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.20 and a beta of 0.89. Harmonic has a fifty-two week low of $8.80 and a fifty-two week high of $15.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.87.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 29th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.04 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $138.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $133.67 million. Harmonic had a return on equity of 0.27% and a net margin of 10.22%. Harmonic’s quarterly revenue was down 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.07 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Harmonic will post 0.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Harmonic

In other news, SVP Neven Haltmayer sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.41, for a total value of $576,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 122,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,761,060.51. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Harmonic

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Harmonic by 12.7% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake 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 during the last quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA raised its stake in shares of Harmonic by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA now owns 1,975,966 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $23,257,000 after buying an additional 105,162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new position in shares of Harmonic during the 4th quarter valued at about $19,257,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.38% of the company’s stock.

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.