Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) Earns "Buy" Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT - Free Report) in a research note published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a $18.00 price target on the communications equipment provider's stock.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on HLIT. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price target on Harmonic from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Raymond James cut their price target on Harmonic from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a strong-buy rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. TheStreet upgraded Harmonic from a c rating to a b rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Harmonic from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $17.20.

Harmonic Stock Performance

NASDAQ HLIT traded down $1.92 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $11.22. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,595,822 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,859,818. Harmonic has a 12 month low of $8.80 and a 12 month high of $18.43. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $13.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.71. The company has a market cap of $1.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.44 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 29th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.03. Harmonic had a return on equity of 4.71% and a net margin of 13.82%. The company had revenue of $167.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $158.98 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.12 EPS. Harmonic's revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Harmonic will post 0.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Neven Haltmayer sold 24,695 shares of Harmonic stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.58, for a total transaction of $285,968.10. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 181,864 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,105,985.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Neven Haltmayer sold 24,695 shares of Harmonic stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.58, for a total transaction of $285,968.10. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 181,864 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,105,985.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Nimrod Ben-Natan sold 100,000 shares of Harmonic stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.91, for a total value of $1,291,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 302,214 shares in the company, valued at $3,901,582.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 150,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,917,122 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in Harmonic by 237.8% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,591 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,824 shares in the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Harmonic by 2,615.0% in the 1st quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 3,258 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 3,138 shares in the last quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in Harmonic by 80.5% in the 4th quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 3,271 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 1,459 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in Harmonic by 411.4% in the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,866 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 3,110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its holdings in Harmonic by 239.9% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 7,178 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 5,066 shares in the last quarter. 99.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.