Captrust Financial Advisors Reduces Position in Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT)

Captrust Financial Advisors trimmed its holdings in shares of Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) by 14.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,824 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors’ holdings in Harmonic were worth $144,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Harmonic during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Harmonic by 5,388.1% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 5,543 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 5,442 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its holdings in Harmonic by 14,765.9% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 6,095 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 6,054 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Harmonic by 84.8% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,295 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 2,888 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new stake in Harmonic during the fourth quarter worth $137,000. 99.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on HLIT. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Harmonic from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $14.00 price target on shares of Harmonic in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Northland Securities lowered their price target on shares of Harmonic from $14.00 to $12.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Harmonic in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price target on shares of Harmonic from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $12.33.

Harmonic Stock Performance

HLIT opened at $9.09 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a market cap of $1.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.55 and a beta of 1.03. Harmonic Inc. has a 52-week low of $7.91 and a 52-week high of $15.46. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.00.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $133.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $127.51 million. Harmonic had a net margin of 5.78% and a return on equity of 15.90%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Harmonic Inc. will post 0.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Harmonic announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, February 10th that allows the company to repurchase $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the communications equipment provider to repurchase up to 15.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Harmonic

In other Harmonic news, Director Daniel T. Whalen bought 3,000 shares of Harmonic stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $10.15 per share, for a total transaction of $30,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,840 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $89,726. This represents a 51.37% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.21% of the company’s stock.

Harmonic 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.