Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) Given New $14.00 Price Target at Needham & Company LLC

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) had its target price lowered by investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $18.00 to $14.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 47.21% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on HLIT. Barclays downgraded shares of Harmonic from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $17.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Raymond James cut shares of Harmonic from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $17.00 to $14.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 price objective on shares of Harmonic in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Northland Securities lowered 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Harmonic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $14.00 to $12.50 in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $12.50.

Harmonic Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:HLIT opened at $9.51 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $12.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.09. The company has a market cap of $1.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.03 and a beta of 0.89. Harmonic has a 12-month low of $8.42 and a 12-month high of $15.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

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

Harmonic announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, February 10th that authorizes the company to repurchase $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to buy up to 15.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Harmonic

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Harmonic by 117.6% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,448 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 1,323 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC raised its position in shares of Harmonic by 14,765.9% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 6,095 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 6,054 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its position 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 valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 2,888 shares during the period. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Harmonic by 274.2% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 8,439 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $123,000 after buying an additional 6,184 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new stake in shares of Harmonic during the 4th quarter worth $137,000. Institutional investors own 99.38% 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.