Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) Reaches New 12-Month Low on Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday after Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price target on the stock from $16.00 to $12.00. Rosenblatt Securities currently has a buy rating on the stock. Harmonic traded as low as $8.42 and last traded at $9.92, with a volume of 2140998 shares. The stock had previously closed at $11.12.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Harmonic

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Harmonic by 117.6% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,448 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 1,323 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Harmonic by 14,765.9% during the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 6,095 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 6,054 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 2,888 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Harmonic by 274.2% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 8,439 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $123,000 after buying an additional 6,184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new position in shares of Harmonic during the 4th quarter worth approximately $137,000. 99.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Harmonic Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.03 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.47 and a 200-day simple 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. Harmonic had a return on equity of 7.56% and a net margin of 13.62%. Sell-side analysts expect that Harmonic Inc. will post 0.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Harmonic declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Monday, February 10th that permits the company to repurchase $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 15.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are 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.