Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) to Repurchase $200.00 million in Outstanding Shares

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT - Get Free Report) announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, February 10th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the communications equipment provider to buy up to 15.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Harmonic Price Performance

NASDAQ HLIT traded up $0.22 during trading on Friday, hitting $10.01. 1,790,658 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,354,864. The company has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a PE ratio of 13.75 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $12.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.09. Harmonic has a fifty-two week low of $8.42 and a fifty-two week high of $15.46.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 10th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. Harmonic had a net margin of 13.62% and a return on equity of 7.56%. Research analysts expect that Harmonic will post 0.52 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on HLIT shares. Raymond James cut Harmonic from a "strong-buy" rating to an "outperform" rating and cut their price target for the company from $17.00 to $14.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Northland Securities decreased their target price on shares of Harmonic from $14.00 to $12.50 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Harmonic from $14.00 to $10.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised Harmonic from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price objective on Harmonic from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $12.50.

Insider Transactions at Harmonic

In other Harmonic news, Director David Krall purchased 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 acquisition, the director now directly owns 163,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,598,932.20. The trade was a 6.52 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Walter Jankovic purchased 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $9.44 per share, for a total transaction of $113,280.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,129 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $435,457.76. This represents a 35.16 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired 29,780 shares of company stock worth $286,157 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.36% of the company's stock.

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.