Amundi Acquires 38,230 Shares of Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT)

Amundi grew its holdings in Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) by 113.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 71,976 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 38,230 shares during the period. Amundi owned about 0.06% of Harmonic worth $962,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Harmonic by 84.8% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,295 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 2,888 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Harmonic during the 4th quarter valued at about $146,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Harmonic in the third quarter worth approximately $166,000. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Harmonic by 14.9% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 12,671 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $185,000 after purchasing an additional 1,647 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in Harmonic during the third quarter valued at approximately $297,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HLIT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on shares of Harmonic from $18.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Northland Securities cut their price objective on Harmonic from $14.00 to $12.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Harmonic in a research report on Friday, February 21st. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their target price on Harmonic from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Harmonic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Harmonic has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $12.50.

Harmonic Stock Performance

Shares of HLIT opened at $10.33 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.30 and a beta of 0.87. Harmonic Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.42 and a 52 week high of $15.46. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $12.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. Harmonic had a net margin of 5.78% and a return on equity of 15.90%. On average, analysts expect that Harmonic Inc. will post 0.31 EPS for the current year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David Krall bought 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $9.78 per share, with a total value of $97,800.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 163,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,598,932.20. This represents a 6.52 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Daniel T. Whalen bought 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $10.15 per share, with a total value of $30,450.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 8,840 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $89,726. This represents a 51.37 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders acquired 32,780 shares of company stock worth $316,607. 2.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Harmonic 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.