Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 165,794 Shares of Harmonic Inc. $HLIT

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) by 31.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 701,151 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 165,794 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Harmonic were worth $6,296,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in HLIT. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new position in shares of Harmonic during the third quarter worth approximately $49,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in Harmonic by 23,193.5% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 7,221 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 7,190 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Harmonic by 130.7% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 7,476 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 4,236 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in Harmonic by 64.6% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 7,645 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $75,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in Harmonic during the 4th quarter worth $90,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HLIT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen raised Harmonic from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 6th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Harmonic from $11.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Zacks Research raised shares of Harmonic from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Harmonic from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $20.00 price objective on shares of Harmonic in a report on Monday, June 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Harmonic presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $16.60.

Harmonic Price Performance

Harmonic stock opened at $11.35 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.27. Harmonic Inc. has a 52 week low of $7.80 and a 52 week high of $17.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -30.67 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $14.15 and a 200-day moving average of $11.63.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Stephanie Copeland sold 4,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director owned 20,752 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $276,001.60. This represents a 17.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 133,924 shares in the company, valued at $1,773,153.76. This trade represents a 19.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.74% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Harmonic

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.