Needham & Company LLC Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT)

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their buy rating on shares of Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $18.00 price objective on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on HLIT. Raymond James reduced their price objective on shares of Harmonic from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a strong-buy rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Harmonic from a c rating to a b rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price target on Harmonic from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Harmonic from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Harmonic has a consensus rating of Buy and an average price target of $17.20.

Harmonic Stock Performance

NASDAQ HLIT opened at $10.03 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.13 and a beta of 0.84. The business’s 50 day moving average is $12.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.75. Harmonic has a 12-month low of $8.80 and a 12-month high of $18.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 29th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.03. Harmonic had a return on equity of 4.71% and a net margin of 13.82%. The firm had revenue of $167.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $158.98 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.12 earnings per share. Harmonic’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Harmonic will post 0.32 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Neven Haltmayer sold 14,747 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.68, for a total value of $201,738.96. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 156,559 shares in the company, valued at $2,141,727.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Nimrod Ben-Natan sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.91, for a total transaction of $1,291,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 302,214 shares in the company, valued at $3,901,582.74. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Neven Haltmayer sold 14,747 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.68, for a total value of $201,738.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 156,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,141,727.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 150,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,917,122. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Harmonic

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in Harmonic by 237.8% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,591 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,824 shares during the period. Belpointe Asset Management LLC grew its position in Harmonic by 2,615.0% during the first quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 3,258 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 3,138 shares during the period. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Harmonic by 80.5% in the 4th quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 3,271 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 1,459 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in Harmonic by 411.4% during the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,866 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 3,110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in Harmonic by 239.9% in the third quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 7,178 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 5,066 shares during the period. 99.38% of the stock is currently 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.