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

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $18.00 price target on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 62.31% from the company’s previous close.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Rosenblatt Securities cut their target price on shares of Harmonic from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Raymond James cut their target price on shares of Harmonic from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Harmonic from a “c” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Harmonic from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Harmonic presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.20.

Harmonic Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:HLIT opened at $11.09 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $12.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.48 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 29th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.05) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by ($0.04). Harmonic had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 1.38%. The firm had revenue of $122.06 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $121.70 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.06 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Harmonic will post 0.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Harmonic

In other 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 171,306 shares in the company, valued at $2,245,821.66. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 171,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,245,821.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Nimrod Ben-Natan sold 100,000 shares of Harmonic 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 transaction, 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 125,305 shares of company stock worth $1,631,154. Company insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Harmonic

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Trigran Investments Inc. increased its stake in Harmonic by 38.5% in the third quarter. Trigran Investments Inc. now owns 9,636,809 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $92,802,000 after purchasing an additional 2,677,338 shares in the last quarter. Scopia Capital Management LP increased its stake in Harmonic by 78.5% in the third quarter. Scopia Capital Management LP now owns 5,649,163 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $54,401,000 after purchasing an additional 2,484,825 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new stake in Harmonic in the fourth quarter valued at $19,257,000. Wolf Hill Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Harmonic in the fourth quarter valued at $16,879,000. Finally, Toronado Partners LLC increased its stake in Harmonic by 149.5% in the third quarter. Toronado Partners LLC now owns 2,011,532 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $19,371,000 after purchasing an additional 1,205,380 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.38% of the company’s stock.

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.