Nimrod Ben-Natan Acquires 7,780 Shares of Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) Stock

Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) CEO Nimrod Ben-Natan acquired 7,780 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $9.65 per share, with a total value of $75,077.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 347,797 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,356,241.05. The trade was a 2.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Harmonic Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of HLIT stock opened at $10.06 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $12.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.05. 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 market cap of $1.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.78 and a beta of 0.89.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. Harmonic had a net margin of 13.62% and a return on equity of 7.56%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Harmonic Inc. 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 permits the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the communications equipment provider to reacquire up to 15.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Harmonic

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its stake in shares of Harmonic by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 36,100 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $478,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Harmonic by 117.6% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,448 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 1,323 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Harmonic by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 203,300 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,690,000 after buying an additional 1,324 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in Harmonic by 14.9% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 12,671 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $185,000 after buying an additional 1,647 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC grew its stake in Harmonic by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 30,154 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $399,000 after buying an additional 1,944 shares during the period. 99.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on HLIT. StockNews.com raised Harmonic from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Raymond James lowered shares of Harmonic from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $17.00 to $14.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Harmonic from $14.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Northland Securities reduced 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, February 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Harmonic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $14.00 to $12.50 in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.