Raymond James Financial Inc. Takes Position in Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 324,391 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,292,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.28% of Harmonic as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HLIT. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in Harmonic by 5,388.1% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 5,543 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 5,442 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC increased its holdings in shares of Harmonic by 14,765.9% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 6,095 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $81,000 after acquiring an additional 6,054 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 2,888 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new position in shares of Harmonic in the 4th quarter worth about $137,000. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in Harmonic in the 4th quarter worth about $146,000. 99.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Harmonic Stock Performance

Shares of HLIT traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $9.07. The stock had a trading volume of 148,928 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,175,213. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.06 billion, a PE ratio of 27.49 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.18 and a quick ratio of 1.80. Harmonic Inc. has a 12 month low of $7.91 and a 12 month high of $15.46. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $9.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.43.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT - Get Free Report) last released 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 return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 5.78%. The business had revenue of $133.14 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $127.51 million. Harmonic's quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Harmonic Inc. will post 0.31 EPS for the current year.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on HLIT. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Harmonic in a report on Friday, February 21st. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Northland Securities cut their target price on Harmonic from $14.00 to $12.50 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. StockNews.com upgraded Harmonic from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays reaffirmed an "underperform" rating on shares of Harmonic in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $14.00 target price on shares of Harmonic in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $12.33.

Insider Transactions at Harmonic

In other news, CFO Walter Jankovic acquired 12,000 shares of Harmonic stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $9.44 per share, with a total value of $113,280.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $435,457.76. This trade represents a 35.16 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Krall acquired 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $9.78 per share, with a total value of $97,800.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 163,490 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,598,932.20. This trade represents a 6.52 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased 32,780 shares of company stock worth $316,607 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.36% of the company's stock.

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.