Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $12.70, but opened at $14.30. Harmonic shares last traded at $14.4410, with a volume of 1,252,994 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on HLIT. Northland Securities set a $15.00 price objective on Harmonic in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen raised Harmonic from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Barclays lifted their target price on Harmonic from $11.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Harmonic from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Harmonic from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $16.60.

Harmonic Stock Performance

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $10.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.27. The company has a market capitalization of $1.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -40.34 and a beta of 1.24.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.10 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of ($53.02) million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $140.98 million. Harmonic had a negative net margin of 7.50% and a positive return on equity of 7.84%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 42.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Harmonic Inc. will post 0.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Neven Haltmayer sold 31,766 shares of Harmonic stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.24, for a total value of $420,581.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 133,924 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,773,153.76. This trade represents a 19.17% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Stephanie Copeland sold 4,300 shares of Harmonic stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.30, for a total value of $57,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 20,752 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $276,001.60. The trade was a 17.16% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 1.74% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Harmonic

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Harmonic by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,022,963 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $118,907,000 after buying an additional 148,281 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Harmonic by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,471,187 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $44,220,000 after purchasing an additional 80,791 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Harmonic by 5.4% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,673,398 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $32,987,000 after purchasing an additional 188,293 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in Harmonic by 2.9% during the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,406,945 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $24,503,000 after purchasing an additional 68,921 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Harmonic by 2.5% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,196,469 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $19,724,000 after purchasing an additional 54,157 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.38% of the company’s stock.

Harmonic Company Profile

Harmonic Inc (NASDAQ:HLIT) is a leading provider of video delivery infrastructure that enables service providers, broadcasters and content owners to capture, process and distribute high?quality video across broadcast, cable, satellite and IP networks. The company’s portfolio spans real?time video compression solutions, including encoders and transcoders, as well as storage and server products designed for live production, playout and streaming on any device.

Harmonic’s product lines include cable edge QAM modules and set?top video processing platforms for traditional pay?TV operators, alongside cloud?native software for over?the?top (OTT) delivery, origin servers and content delivery network (CDN) services.