D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Purchases 167,660 Shares of Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lifted its position in Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT - Free Report) by 355.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 214,874 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 167,660 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned about 0.18% of Harmonic worth $2,843,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HLIT. Amundi increased its holdings in Harmonic by 113.3% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 71,976 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $962,000 after buying an additional 38,230 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Harmonic in the fourth quarter worth $4,292,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake 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 valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 5,442 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Harmonic by 6.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 39,041 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $538,000 after acquiring an additional 2,207 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Harmonic by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 568,187 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $7,517,000 after acquiring an additional 17,562 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.38% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Harmonic

In other news, Director Daniel T. Whalen purchased 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $10.15 per share, with a total value of $30,450.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 8,840 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $89,726. This represents a 51.37% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.21% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on HLIT shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Harmonic in a research report on Friday, February 21st. They set a "hold" rating for the company. Barclays reiterated an "underperform" rating on shares of Harmonic in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Harmonic from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $14.00 price target on shares of Harmonic in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Northland Securities reduced their price target on shares of Harmonic from $14.00 to $12.50 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $12.33.

Harmonic Trading Down 1.7%

NASDAQ HLIT opened at $9.38 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Harmonic Inc. has a 52 week low of $7.91 and a 52 week high of $15.46. The firm has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a PE ratio of 28.43 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $9.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.04.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.06. Harmonic had a net margin of 5.78% and a return on equity of 15.90%. The business had revenue of $133.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $127.51 million. The company's revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Harmonic Inc. will post 0.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Harmonic announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, February 10th that permits the company to buyback $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the communications equipment provider to repurchase up to 15.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.

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