Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Acquires 44,510 Shares of Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT)

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its position in shares of Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT - Free Report) by 174.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 69,983 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 44,510 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL owned approximately 0.06% of Harmonic worth $926,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in Harmonic by 5,388.1% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 5,543 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 5,442 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its stake in Harmonic by 14,765.9% during the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 6,095 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $81,000 after acquiring an additional 6,054 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new position in shares of Harmonic in the 4th quarter worth about $137,000. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Harmonic in the 4th quarter worth about $146,000. 99.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Harmonic Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of Harmonic stock traded up $0.18 during trading on Thursday, hitting $8.98. The stock had a trading volume of 194,978 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,248,755. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.61. Harmonic Inc. has a 1 year low of $7.91 and a 1 year high of $15.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a market capitalization of $1.05 billion, a PE ratio of 27.21 and a beta of 0.92.

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

Harmonic announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Monday, February 10th that authorizes the company to repurchase $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to reacquire up to 15.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Walter Jankovic purchased 12,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $9.44 per share, for a total transaction of $113,280.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,129 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $435,457.76. The trade was a 35.16 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Daniel T. Whalen purchased 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $10.15 per share, with a total value of $30,450.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 8,840 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $89,726. This trade represents a 51.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired 32,780 shares of company stock valued at $316,607 over the last three months. 2.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on HLIT. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price target on shares of Harmonic from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on shares of Harmonic from $18.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. StockNews.com raised shares of Harmonic from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Harmonic in a research note on Friday, February 21st. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Finally, Northland Securities lowered their price objective on shares of Harmonic from $14.00 to $12.50 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Harmonic presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $12.50.

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.