Millennium Management LLC Raises Stake in Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT)

Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) by 9,004.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,719,837 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,667,996 shares during the quarter. Millennium Management LLC owned about 4.05% of Harmonic worth $62,443,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in HLIT. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in Harmonic by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 62,811 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $831,000 after purchasing an additional 2,146 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Harmonic in the fourth quarter valued at $1,036,000. Graham Capital Management L.P. grew its holdings in Harmonic by 48.1% in the fourth quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. now owns 81,289 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,075,000 after purchasing an additional 26,411 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in shares of Harmonic by 90.5% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 125,205 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,656,000 after buying an additional 59,496 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of Harmonic by 355.1% during the 4th quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 214,874 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,843,000 after buying an additional 167,660 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.38% of the company’s stock.

Harmonic Stock Performance

NASDAQ:HLIT opened at $9.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.18 and a quick ratio of 1.80. The firm has a market cap of $1.09 billion, a PE ratio of 29.09 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.07. Harmonic Inc. has a 1-year low of $7.91 and a 1-year high of $15.46.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.06. Harmonic had a net margin of 5.78% and a return on equity of 15.90%. The firm had revenue of $133.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $127.51 million. Harmonic’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Harmonic Inc. will post 0.31 EPS for the current year.

Harmonic declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, February 10th that permits the company to repurchase $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 15.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on HLIT shares. 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. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $14.00 price target on shares of Harmonic in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. 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 Harmonic in a research report on Friday, February 21st. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on Harmonic from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $12.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Daniel T. Whalen purchased 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were bought at an average price of $10.15 per share, for a total transaction of $30,450.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 8,840 shares in the company, valued at $89,726. This trade represents a 51.37% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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.