Short Interest in Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) Expands By 9.3%

Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,010,000 shares, a growth of 9.3% from the October 15th total of 3,670,000 shares. Approximately 3.8% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,100,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.6 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Harmonic

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HLIT. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of Harmonic by 780.9% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,255 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 1,999 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position 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 buying an additional 1,323 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Harmonic during the second quarter worth approximately $47,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in Harmonic during the 1st quarter worth $114,000. Finally, iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new position in Harmonic in the 3rd quarter valued at $166,000. 99.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Harmonic Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HLIT traded down $0.48 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $11.92. 1,360,774 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,522,632. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.33 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $13.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.74. 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 52 week low of $9.10 and a 52 week high of $15.46.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.09. Harmonic had a return on equity of 7.56% and a net margin of 13.62%. The firm had revenue of $195.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $181.77 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.05) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 53.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Harmonic will post 0.52 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HLIT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James downgraded shares of Harmonic from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $17.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price target on Harmonic from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Northland Securities cut their price objective on Harmonic from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Harmonic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $14.00 to $12.50 in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Harmonic from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Harmonic has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $15.25.

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.