Stanley Laman Group Ltd. Buys 2,742 Shares of Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT)

Stanley Laman Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 322,353 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,742 shares during the quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. owned about 0.28% of Harmonic worth $4,265,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Harmonic by 117.6% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Harmonic by 84.8% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,295 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 2,888 shares during the period. CWM LLC lifted 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 purchasing an additional 6,184 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Harmonic in the 4th quarter valued at about $146,000. Finally, iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Harmonic in the 3rd quarter valued at about $166,000. Institutional investors own 99.38% of the company’s stock.

Harmonic Stock Performance

Shares of HLIT stock opened at $9.51 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.11 billion, a PE ratio of 13.03 and a beta of 0.89. Harmonic Inc. has a one year low of $8.42 and a one year high of $15.46. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $12.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.09. 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 announced its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. Harmonic had a return on equity of 7.56% and a net margin of 13.62%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Harmonic Inc. will post 0.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Harmonic declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Monday, February 10th that allows the company to buyback $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the communications equipment provider to repurchase up to 15.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on HLIT. Northland Securities lowered their target price on Harmonic from $14.00 to $12.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays cut their price target on Harmonic from $14.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Harmonic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $14.00 to $12.50 in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price objective on Harmonic from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Harmonic from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $12.50.

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.