Victory Capital Management Inc. Decreases Stake in Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT)

Victory Capital Management Inc. cut its holdings in Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT - Free Report) by 4.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,253,754 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 52,908 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned 1.08% of Harmonic worth $16,587,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. KBC Group NV boosted its position in Harmonic by 84.8% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,295 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 2,888 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Harmonic during the fourth quarter worth $146,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new stake in Harmonic during the third quarter worth $166,000. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its position in Harmonic by 14.9% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 12,671 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $185,000 after purchasing an additional 1,647 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versor Investments LP purchased a new stake in Harmonic during the third quarter worth $227,000. 99.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HLIT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities decreased 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. Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on Harmonic from $18.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. 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, February 11th. StockNews.com cut Harmonic from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Northland Securities cut their price target on Harmonic from $14.00 to $12.50 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Harmonic has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $12.50.

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Harmonic Stock Performance

Harmonic stock opened at $10.14 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.73 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $11.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.63. Harmonic Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.42 and a 52 week high of $15.46. The company has a current ratio of 2.18, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

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

Harmonic announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, February 10th that permits the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the communications equipment provider to repurchase up to 15.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Harmonic

In other news, CFO Walter Jankovic purchased 12,000 shares of the company'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 purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,129 shares of the company's stock, valued at $435,457.76. The trade was a 35.16 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Daniel T. Whalen purchased 3,000 shares of the company'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 purchase, the director now directly owns 8,840 shares of the company's stock, valued at $89,726. The trade was a 51.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders acquired 32,780 shares of company stock worth $316,607. 2.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.

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