Harmonic’s (HLIT) Buy Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

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

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Harmonic from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. One 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Buy and an average target price of $17.20.

Harmonic Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of HLIT stock opened at $11.20 on Monday. Harmonic has a 1 year low of $8.80 and a 1 year high of $18.43. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $11.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.67 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.05) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by ($0.04). Harmonic had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 1.35%. The business had revenue of $122.06 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $121.70 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.06 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Harmonic will post 0.36 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Ian Graham sold 52,730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.95, for a total value of $577,393.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 63,616 shares in the company, valued at $696,595.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Boston Partners boosted its stake in shares of Harmonic by 82.4% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 120,296 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,617,000 after purchasing an additional 54,362 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Harmonic by 1,276.3% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 1,203,297 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $16,172,000 after purchasing an additional 1,115,870 shares in the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Harmonic during the first quarter valued at about $8,295,000. Keeley Teton Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Harmonic by 27.0% during the first quarter. Keeley Teton Advisors LLC now owns 51,403 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $691,000 after purchasing an additional 10,936 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Harmonic during the first quarter valued at about $6,047,000. Institutional investors own 99.38% of the company’s stock.

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.