Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Thursday.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on HLIT. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their target price on Harmonic from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Northland Securities lowered their price target on shares of Harmonic from $14.00 to $12.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Harmonic from $14.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Harmonic in a research report on Friday, February 21st. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on shares of Harmonic from $18.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $12.50.

Harmonic Trading Down 1.7 %

NASDAQ HLIT opened at $9.77 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a current ratio of 2.18. Harmonic has a one year low of $8.42 and a one year high of $15.46. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.14 billion, a PE ratio of 29.61 and a beta of 0.87.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. Harmonic had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 5.78%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Harmonic will post 0.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Harmonic declared that its board has approved 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Daniel T. Whalen bought 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $10.15 per share, with a total value of $30,450.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 8,840 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $89,726. This represents a 51.37 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Walter Jankovic purchased 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $9.44 per share, for a total transaction of $113,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 46,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $435,457.76. This represents a 35.16 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have purchased 32,780 shares of company stock worth $316,607. 2.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Harmonic

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HLIT. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in Harmonic by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 36,100 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $478,000 after buying an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Harmonic by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 203,300 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,690,000 after acquiring an additional 1,324 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted 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 worth $185,000 after acquiring an additional 1,647 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Harmonic by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 30,154 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $399,000 after acquiring an additional 1,944 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in shares of Harmonic by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 62,811 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $831,000 after purchasing an additional 2,146 shares during the period. 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.