Needham & Company LLC Lowers Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) Price Target to $14.00

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) had its target price reduced by analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $18.00 to $14.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price suggests a potential upside of 25.90% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Northland Securities decreased 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. Jefferies Financial Group cut Harmonic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $14.00 to $12.50 in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Raymond James lowered shares of Harmonic from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $17.00 to $14.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 price target on shares of Harmonic in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Barclays cut shares of Harmonic from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $17.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $13.83.

Harmonic Trading Down 0.1 %

HLIT stock opened at $11.12 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.23 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 1.62. Harmonic has a 1-year low of $9.10 and a 1-year high of $15.46. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $12.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $13.13.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. Harmonic had a net margin of 13.62% and a return on equity of 7.56%. Research analysts anticipate that Harmonic will post 0.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Harmonic declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, February 10th that permits the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the communications equipment provider to repurchase up to 15.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Harmonic

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HLIT. Jane Street Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Harmonic by 40.3% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 201,386 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,934,000 after buying an additional 57,888 shares during the last quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Harmonic in the 3rd quarter worth $833,000. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC bought a new position in shares of Harmonic during the 3rd quarter worth $2,915,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Harmonic by 0.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,675,268 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $38,986,000 after buying an additional 17,665 shares during the period. Finally, Bouvel Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Harmonic in the third quarter valued at about $1,756,000. 99.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.