Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) Cut to “Hold” at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has $12.50 target price on the communications equipment provider’s stock, down from their prior target price of $14.00.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on HLIT. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Harmonic from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Northland Securities cut their price target on Harmonic from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Raymond James downgraded Harmonic from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $17.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $18.00 target price on shares of Harmonic in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities decreased 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $15.25.

Harmonic Stock Performance

NASDAQ:HLIT opened at $11.09 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 2.08. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $12.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.29 billion, a PE ratio of 15.19 and a beta of 0.87. Harmonic has a 52-week low of $9.10 and a 52-week high of $15.46.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HLIT. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted 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 valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 1,323 shares during the last quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Harmonic by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 20,192 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $238,000 after buying an additional 1,362 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Harmonic by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 320,516 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,772,000 after acquiring an additional 1,382 shares during the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its position in Harmonic by 1.5% in the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 98,377 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,322,000 after acquiring an additional 1,462 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in Harmonic by 7.4% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 22,256 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $299,000 after acquiring an additional 1,532 shares during the last quarter. 99.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.