Jane Street Group LLC Sells 178,440 Shares of Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT)

Jane Street Group LLC lowered its stake in Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) by 88.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,946 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 178,440 shares during the quarter. Jane Street Group LLC’s holdings in Harmonic were worth $304,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Harmonic by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,063,328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $146,368,000 after buying an additional 235,188 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Harmonic by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,788,714 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $103,045,000 after buying an additional 1,300,128 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in Harmonic by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,145,357 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,383,000 after buying an additional 175,133 shares during the period. CenterBook Partners LP raised its stake in Harmonic by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 1,335,941 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $17,674,000 after buying an additional 57,046 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Harmonic by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,252,837 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $16,575,000 after buying an additional 147,274 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.38% of the company’s stock.

Harmonic Trading Up 0.3%

Harmonic stock opened at $9.05 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.84. 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 has a market capitalization of $1.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.43 and a beta of 1.03. Harmonic Inc. has a 52 week low of $7.91 and a 52 week high of $15.46.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $133.14 million during 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%. Harmonic’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Harmonic Inc. will post 0.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Harmonic announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase 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 purchase up to 15.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HLIT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on Harmonic from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $14.00 price objective on shares of Harmonic in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Northland Securities decreased their price objective on Harmonic from $14.00 to $12.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Harmonic in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Harmonic from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $12.33.

Harmonic Company 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.