Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $12.50 price objective on the communications equipment provider’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $14.00.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their target price on Harmonic from $18.00 to $16.00 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. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $18.00 price objective on shares of Harmonic in a report on Tuesday. Northland Securities lowered their price objective on shares of Harmonic from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Harmonic from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $15.25.

Harmonic Price Performance

HLIT stock opened at $11.09 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.29 billion, a PE ratio of 15.19 and a beta of 0.87. Harmonic has a 12 month low of $9.10 and a 12 month high of $15.46. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $13.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.57. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $195.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $181.77 million. Harmonic had a return on equity of 7.56% and a net margin of 13.62%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 53.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.05) earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Harmonic will post 0.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Harmonic by 18.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 35,365 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $515,000 after purchasing an additional 5,414 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Harmonic by 117.7% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,187,528 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $17,302,000 after buying an additional 642,033 shares in the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in Harmonic by 5.5% during the third quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 319,611 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $4,657,000 after buying an additional 16,558 shares during the period. CWM LLC boosted its position in Harmonic by 274.2% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 8,439 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $123,000 after acquiring an additional 6,184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Harmonic by 117.6% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,448 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 1,323 shares in the last quarter. 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.