Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) Sets New 1-Year Low After Analyst Downgrade

Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday after Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price target on the stock from $12.00 to $11.00. Rosenblatt Securities currently has a buy rating on the stock. Harmonic traded as low as $8.75 and last traded at $8.98, with a volume of 1340608 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.43.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Harmonic from $14.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. StockNews.com raised Harmonic from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Northland Securities reduced their target price on Harmonic from $14.00 to $12.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Harmonic in a report on Friday, February 21st. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on shares of Harmonic from $18.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $12.33.

Insider Activity at Harmonic

In other Harmonic news, CFO Walter Jankovic purchased 12,000 shares of Harmonic stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $9.44 per share, with a total value of $113,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $435,457.76. This represents a 35.16 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David Krall acquired 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $9.78 per share, with a total value of $97,800.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 163,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,598,932.20. This trade represents a 6.52 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have bought 32,780 shares of company stock worth $316,607. 2.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HLIT. Amundi grew its stake in shares of Harmonic by 113.3% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 71,976 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $962,000 after buying an additional 38,230 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Harmonic in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,292,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in Harmonic by 5,388.1% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 5,543 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 5,442 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Harmonic by 6.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 39,041 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $538,000 after purchasing an additional 2,207 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Harmonic by 18.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 246,944 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $3,598,000 after purchasing an additional 38,137 shares in the last quarter. 99.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Harmonic Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.33 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a current ratio of 2.18. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $9.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.43.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.06. Harmonic had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 5.78%. The company had revenue of $133.14 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $127.51 million. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Harmonic Inc. will post 0.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Harmonic declared that its board has approved a share 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 purchase up to 15.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.