Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) Given “Buy” Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC restated their buy rating on shares of Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a $18.00 target price on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on HLIT. Barclays lifted their price objective on Harmonic from $14.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $18.00 target price on shares of Harmonic in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $15.25.

Harmonic Trading Down 25.1 %

Shares of Harmonic stock opened at $11.10 on Tuesday. Harmonic has a 52-week low of $9.10 and a 52-week high of $15.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, a PE ratio of 18.50 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 1.32. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $14.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.57.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $195.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $181.77 million. Harmonic had a net margin of 10.22% and a return on equity of 0.27%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 53.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.05) earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Harmonic will post 0.44 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Harmonic

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Harmonic by 1.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,852,064 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $132,412,000 after acquiring an additional 166,018 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Harmonic by 8.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,741,998 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $44,043,000 after purchasing an additional 294,922 shares in the last quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA raised its position in Harmonic by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA now owns 1,975,966 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $23,257,000 after purchasing an additional 105,162 shares during the last quarter. Clearline Capital LP lifted its holdings in Harmonic by 777.6% during the 2nd quarter. Clearline Capital LP now owns 1,570,461 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $18,484,000 after buying an additional 1,391,504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC boosted its position in Harmonic by 1,276.3% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 1,203,297 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $16,172,000 after buying an additional 1,115,870 shares during the last quarter. 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.