Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,100,000 shares, a drop of 8.8% from the November 30th total of 3,400,000 shares. Currently, 2.8% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,100,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on HLIT. Jefferies Financial Group cut Harmonic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $14.00 to $12.50 in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Barclays reduced their price target on Harmonic from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Northland Securities cut their price objective on shares of Harmonic from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their target price on shares of Harmonic from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, 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 research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $15.25.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,323 shares during the period. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Harmonic by 274.2% in the third 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. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new position in Harmonic during the third quarter worth about $166,000. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in Harmonic by 14.9% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 12,671 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $185,000 after purchasing an additional 1,647 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versor Investments LP bought a new stake in Harmonic in the 3rd quarter valued at about $227,000. 99.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Harmonic Stock Performance

HLIT stock traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $13.23. The stock had a trading volume of 526,964 shares, compared to its average volume of 823,611. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $13.07. Harmonic has a fifty-two week low of $9.10 and a fifty-two week high of $15.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.54 billion, a PE ratio of 18.12 and a beta of 0.92. 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 (NASDAQ:HLIT) last issued 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 the consensus estimate of $181.77 million. Harmonic had a net margin of 13.62% and a return on equity of 7.56%. Harmonic’s revenue was up 53.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.05) EPS. Analysts predict that Harmonic will post 0.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.