Marshall Wace LLP Sells 842,832 Shares of Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT)

Marshall Wace LLP trimmed its stake in shares of Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT - Free Report) by 95.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,685 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 842,832 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP's holdings in Harmonic were worth $551,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of 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 during the period. AlphaQuest LLC raised its stake in shares of Harmonic by 14,765.9% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 6,095 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 6,054 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Harmonic by 84.8% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,295 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 2,888 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new position in Harmonic during the fourth quarter valued at about $137,000. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in Harmonic during the fourth quarter worth about $146,000. 99.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Harmonic Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of Harmonic stock traded down $0.01 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $8.92. The company's stock had a trading volume of 862,626 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,172,920. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.03 and a beta of 1.03. Harmonic Inc. has a 1-year low of $7.91 and a 1-year high of $15.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.31.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 5.78%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Harmonic Inc. will post 0.31 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Nimrod Ben-Natan purchased 7,780 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $9.65 per share, with a total value of $75,077.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 347,797 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,356,241.05. This trade represents a 2.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Daniel T. Whalen purchased 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $10.15 per share, with a total value of $30,450.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 8,840 shares in the company, valued at $89,726. This represents a 51.37 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased a total of 32,780 shares of company stock worth $316,607 in the last quarter. 2.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.