Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG) Trading Up 4.9% – What’s Next?

Shares of Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE:HOG) shot up 4.9% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $27.05 and last traded at $27.36. 302,832 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 1,763,550 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.09.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Harley-Davidson from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Harley-Davidson from $40.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Harley-Davidson from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Harley-Davidson from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Harley-Davidson from $35.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Harley-Davidson currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.57.

Harley-Davidson Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $27.33 and its 200 day moving average is $31.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The company has a market cap of $3.24 billion, a PE ratio of 7.82, a PEG ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 1.49.

Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported ($0.93) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.65) by ($0.28). Harley-Davidson had a net margin of 9.25% and a return on equity of 13.64%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.18 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Harley-Davidson, Inc. will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Harley-Davidson Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is a positive change from Harley-Davidson’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.77%. Harley-Davidson’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Harley-Davidson

In other news, insider Luke Christopher Mansfield sold 3,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.96, for a total value of $88,264.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 23,555 shares in the company, valued at $611,487.80. This represents a 12.61 % 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. 0.87% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Harley-Davidson

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Harley-Davidson by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,835,139 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,940,000 after acquiring an additional 332,928 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Harley-Davidson by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 5,498,635 shares of the company’s stock worth $165,674,000 after acquiring an additional 19,453 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Harley-Davidson by 30.7% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,468,089 shares of the company’s stock worth $164,754,000 after acquiring an additional 1,285,225 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Harley-Davidson by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,496,579 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,352,000 after acquiring an additional 435,200 shares during the period. Finally, Donald Smith & CO. Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Harley-Davidson in the fourth quarter worth $50,368,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.10% of the company’s stock.

About Harley-Davidson

Harley-Davidson, Inc manufactures and sells motorcycles in the United States and internationally. The company operates in three segments: Harley-Davidson Motor Company, LiveWire, and Harley-Davidson Financial Services. The Harley-Davidson Motor Company segment designs, manufactures, and sells motorcycles, including cruiser, trike, touring, standard, sportbike, adventure, and dual sport, as well as motorcycle parts, accessories, and apparel, as well as licenses its trademarks and related services.