Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) Lowered to "Buy" Rating by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded Harmonic from strong-buy to buy, while broader analyst sentiment remains mixed with an overall Hold rating and an average target price of $16.60.
• Harmonic’s recent quarterly results were weak, with EPS of $0.06 missing estimates and revenue sharply below expectations, as sales fell 42.6% from a year earlier.
• Insiders have been selling shares: Director Stephanie Copeland and SVP Neven Haltmayer both trimmed their holdings, even as institutional investors continue to own 99.38% of the stock.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report issued on Sunday.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on HLIT. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of Harmonic in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Harmonic from $16.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Harmonic from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Harmonic from a "hold (c)" rating to a "sell (d)" rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Harmonic from $11.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $16.60.

Harmonic Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HLIT opened at $15.20 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.27 and a quick ratio of 2.03. Harmonic has a fifty-two week low of $7.80 and a fifty-two week high of $15.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -41.08 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50-day moving average of $10.61 and a 200-day moving average of $10.23.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.10 by ($0.04). Harmonic had a positive return on equity of 7.84% and a negative net margin of 7.50%.The business had revenue of ($53.02) million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $140.98 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 42.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Harmonic will post 0.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Stephanie Copeland sold 4,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.30, for a total transaction of $57,190.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 20,752 shares in the company, valued at approximately $276,001.60. This represents a 17.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Neven Haltmayer sold 31,766 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.24, for a total transaction of $420,581.84. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 133,924 shares in the company, valued at $1,773,153.76. This represents a 19.17% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.74% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Harmonic

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Clearline Capital LP raised its holdings in shares of Harmonic by 32.6% in the 3rd quarter. Clearline Capital LP now owns 795,076 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $8,094,000 after acquiring an additional 195,298 shares during the last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL grew its position in Harmonic by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 1,013,492 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $10,317,000 after purchasing an additional 156,862 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its position in Harmonic by 23.7% in the 3rd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 818,376 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $8,331,000 after purchasing an additional 157,000 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its position in Harmonic by 15.1% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 443,703 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $4,517,000 after purchasing an additional 58,145 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Harmonic by 18.8% in the 3rd quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 681,300 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $6,936,000 after purchasing an additional 107,700 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.38% of the company's stock.

About Harmonic

Harmonic Inc NASDAQ: HLIT is a leading provider of video delivery infrastructure that enables service providers, broadcasters and content owners to capture, process and distribute high‐quality video across broadcast, cable, satellite and IP networks. The company's portfolio spans real‐time video compression solutions, including encoders and transcoders, as well as storage and server products designed for live production, playout and streaming on any device.

Harmonic's product lines include cable edge QAM modules and set‐top video processing platforms for traditional pay‐TV operators, alongside cloud‐native software for over‐the‐top (OTT) delivery, origin servers and content delivery network (CDN) services.

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