Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Time to Buy?

Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Wednesday . Approximately 1,507,199 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 4% from the previous session’s volume of 1,573,549 shares.The stock last traded at $16.7620 and had previously closed at $16.90.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on HLIT shares. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Harmonic from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Harmonic from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Harmonic from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Harmonic from $11.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Northland Securities set a $15.00 price target on shares of Harmonic in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $16.60.

Harmonic Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.27 and a quick ratio of 2.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -45.63 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $10.88 and its 200 day moving average is $10.30.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Harmonic news, Director Stephanie Copeland sold 4,300 shares of Harmonic stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.30, for a total value of $57,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 20,752 shares in the company, valued at $276,001.60. The trade was a 17.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Neven Haltmayer sold 31,766 shares of Harmonic stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.24, for a total transaction of $420,581.84. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 133,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,773,153.76. This trade represents a 19.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 1.74% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Harmonic

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Harmonic by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,022,963 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $118,907,000 after acquiring an additional 148,281 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Harmonic by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,471,187 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $44,220,000 after buying an additional 80,791 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Harmonic by 5.4% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,673,398 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $32,987,000 after buying an additional 188,293 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Harmonic by 2.9% in the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,406,945 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $24,503,000 after buying an additional 68,921 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Harmonic by 2.5% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,196,469 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $19,724,000 after buying an additional 54,157 shares during the last quarter. 99.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Harmonic Company Profile

Harmonic Inc (NASDAQ:HLIT) is a leading provider of video delivery infrastructure that enables service providers, broadcasters and content owners to capture, process and distribute high‐quality video across broadcast, cable, satellite and IP networks. The company’s portfolio spans real‐time video compression solutions, including encoders and transcoders, as well as storage and server products designed for live production, playout and streaming on any device.

Harmonic’s product lines include cable edge QAM modules and set‐top video processing platforms for traditional pay‐TV operators, alongside cloud‐native software for over‐the‐top (OTT) delivery, origin servers and content delivery network (CDN) services.