Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Buys 20,841 Shares of Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,057,570 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,841 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Harmonic were worth $13,992,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew 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 valued at $478,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in shares of Harmonic by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 12,671 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $185,000 after acquiring an additional 1,647 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Harmonic by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 30,154 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $399,000 after acquiring an additional 1,944 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Harmonic by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 39,041 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $538,000 after acquiring an additional 2,207 shares during the period. Finally, Stanley Laman Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Harmonic by 0.9% during the 4th 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 period. 99.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Harmonic

In other news, Director Daniel T. Whalen acquired 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $10.15 per share, with a total value of $30,450.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 8,840 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $89,726. The trade was a 51.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director David Krall acquired 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $9.78 per share, for a total transaction of $97,800.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 163,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,598,932.20. This represents a 6.52 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought 32,780 shares of company stock valued at $316,607 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on HLIT shares. Needham & Company LLC cut 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, February 11th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price target on Harmonic from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Northland Securities lowered their price target on Harmonic from $14.00 to $12.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays lowered their price target on Harmonic from $14.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Harmonic in a report on Friday, February 21st. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Harmonic has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $12.50.

Harmonic Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of HLIT opened at $10.34 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.33 and a beta of 0.87. Harmonic Inc. has a 1 year low of $8.42 and a 1 year high of $15.46. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $10.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.18 and a quick ratio of 1.80.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 10th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. Harmonic had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 5.78%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Harmonic Inc. will post 0.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Harmonic announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Monday, February 10th that authorizes the company to buyback $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to reacquire up to 15.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign 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.