Insider Buying: Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) CFO Acquires 12,000 Shares of Stock

Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) CFO Walter Jankovic purchased 12,000 shares of Harmonic stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $9.44 per share, for a total transaction of $113,280.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $435,457.76. The trade was a 35.16 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Harmonic Trading Up 2.8 %

NASDAQ:HLIT opened at $10.06 on Friday. Harmonic Inc. has a 12 month low of $8.42 and a 12 month high of $15.46. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.78 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $13.05.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. Harmonic had a return on equity of 7.56% and a net margin of 13.62%. Analysts expect that Harmonic Inc. will post 0.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Harmonic announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, February 10th that allows the company to repurchase $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the communications equipment provider to reacquire up to 15.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Harmonic

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Harmonic in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Harmonic by 117.6% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,448 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 1,323 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 5,442 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC increased its holdings in Harmonic by 14,765.9% during the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 6,095 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 6,054 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Harmonic by 84.8% in the fourth 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. Institutional investors own 99.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on HLIT. StockNews.com raised shares of Harmonic from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Northland Securities lowered their target price on shares of Harmonic from $14.00 to $12.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Harmonic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $14.00 to $12.50 in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on Harmonic from $18.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on Harmonic from $14.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $12.50.

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.