Needham Investment Management LLC Purchases 50,000 Shares of Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT)

Needham Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT - Free Report) by 8.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 650,000 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 50,000 shares during the quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC owned 0.56% of Harmonic worth $8,600,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in HLIT. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in Harmonic by 9,004.4% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 4,719,837 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $62,443,000 after acquiring an additional 4,667,996 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of 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 last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL boosted its stake in shares of Harmonic by 198.2% during the 4th quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 797,176 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $10,547,000 after buying an additional 529,833 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Harmonic by 175.9% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 681,425 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $9,015,000 after buying an additional 434,481 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC boosted its stake in shares of Harmonic by 1,583.7% during the 4th quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 435,852 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $5,766,000 after buying an additional 409,966 shares during the last quarter. 99.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Harmonic

In other Harmonic news, Director Daniel T. Whalen purchased 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $10.15 per share, with a total value of $30,450.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 8,840 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $89,726. The trade was a 51.37% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.21% of the company's stock.

Harmonic Stock Performance

Shares of HLIT traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $9.54. 768,742 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,160,945. Harmonic Inc. has a 52 week low of $7.91 and a 52 week high of $15.46. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $9.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.05. The firm has a market cap of $1.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.91 and a beta of 1.03. 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 (NASDAQ:HLIT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $133.14 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $127.51 million. Harmonic had a net margin of 5.78% and a return on equity of 15.90%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Harmonic Inc. will post 0.31 EPS for the current year.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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