Barclays Cuts Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) Price Target to $10.00

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) had its target price reduced by Barclays from $14.00 to $10.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Barclays‘s price target points to a potential upside of 5.15% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on HLIT. Northland Securities dropped their price objective on shares of Harmonic from $14.00 to $12.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on shares of Harmonic from $18.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Raymond James cut shares of Harmonic from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $17.00 to $14.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $16.00 price objective on shares of Harmonic in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Harmonic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price 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 issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $12.50.

Harmonic Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:HLIT opened at $9.51 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 2.08. Harmonic has a one year low of $8.42 and a one year high of $15.46. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $13.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.03 and a beta of 0.89.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 10th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.38 EPS 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%. On average, analysts predict that Harmonic will post 0.52 EPS for the current year.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Harmonic

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Harmonic by 117.6% during the third 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 increased 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 buying an additional 6,054 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Harmonic by 84.8% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,295 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 2,888 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted 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 buying an additional 6,184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Harmonic in the 4th quarter worth about $137,000. Hedge funds and other 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.