Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) Director David Krall Acquires 10,000 Shares

Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) Director David Krall purchased 10,000 shares of Harmonic stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $9.78 per share, for a total transaction of $97,800.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 163,490 shares in the company, valued at $1,598,932.20. The trade was a 6.52 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Harmonic Price Performance

Harmonic stock opened at $9.79 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.41 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 1.62. Harmonic Inc. has a 1 year low of $8.42 and a 1 year high of $15.46. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $12.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $13.09.

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

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Harmonic

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Harmonic by 5,388.1% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 5,543 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 5,442 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 6,054 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted 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 period. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of Harmonic by 274.2% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 8,439 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $123,000 after purchasing an additional 6,184 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on HLIT shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Harmonic from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their target price on shares of Harmonic from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Raymond James cut shares of Harmonic from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $17.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Northland Securities dropped their price target on shares of Harmonic from $14.00 to $12.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Harmonic from $14.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $12.50.

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.