Barclays Downgrades Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) to Equal Weight

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) was downgraded by equities researchers at Barclays from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report released on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $14.00 target price on the communications equipment provider’s stock, down from their previous target price of $17.00. Barclays‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 4.71% from the company’s current price.

HLIT has been the topic of a number of other reports. Northland Securities lowered their price target on shares of Harmonic from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $18.00 target price on shares of Harmonic in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Raymond James lowered Harmonic from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $17.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Harmonic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $14.00 to $12.50 in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price objective on Harmonic from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $14.75.

Harmonic Stock Performance

NASDAQ HLIT opened at $13.37 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.32 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $13.15. 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 fifty-two week low of $9.10 and a fifty-two week high of $15.46.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.09. Harmonic had a return on equity of 7.56% and a net margin of 13.62%. The company had revenue of $195.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $181.77 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.05) earnings per share. Harmonic’s quarterly revenue was up 53.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Harmonic will post 0.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Harmonic

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of HLIT. Clearline Capital LP lifted its position in shares of Harmonic by 777.6% in the second quarter. Clearline Capital LP now owns 1,570,461 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $18,484,000 after acquiring an additional 1,391,504 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in Harmonic by 1,952.4% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 978,127 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $11,513,000 after purchasing an additional 930,469 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Harmonic in the 2nd quarter valued at $7,687,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Harmonic by 117.7% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,187,528 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $17,302,000 after purchasing an additional 642,033 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Harmonic by 8.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,741,998 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $44,043,000 after buying an additional 294,922 shares in the last quarter. 99.38% of the stock is currently 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.