Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Decreases Position in Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE:HOG)

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership trimmed its holdings in shares of Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE:HOG) by 14.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 163,864 shares of the company’s stock after selling 27,838 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s holdings in Harley-Davidson were worth $4,937,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Harley-Davidson in the fourth quarter worth approximately $753,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Harley-Davidson by 14.2% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Xponance Inc. increased its position in shares of Harley-Davidson by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 14,123 shares of the company’s stock valued at $426,000 after acquiring an additional 856 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Harley-Davidson by 160.5% during the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 31,011 shares of the company’s stock valued at $934,000 after acquiring an additional 19,108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vestcor Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Harley-Davidson during the fourth quarter worth about $313,000. 85.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Harley-Davidson from $40.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Citigroup reduced their target price on Harley-Davidson from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Harley-Davidson from $35.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Harley-Davidson from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Harley-Davidson from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.57.

Harley-Davidson Stock Down 3.3 %

Shares of Harley-Davidson stock opened at $25.08 on Friday. Harley-Davidson, Inc. has a 1 year low of $23.81 and a 1 year high of $43.89. 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 50-day moving average of $26.29 and a 200 day moving average of $30.85. The firm has a market cap of $3.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.53, a PEG ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 1.49.

Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported ($0.93) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 business earned $0.18 EPS. As a group, sell-side 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 was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This is a positive change from Harley-Davidson’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Harley-Davidson’s payout ratio is currently 21.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Luke Christopher Mansfield sold 3,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.96, for a total value of $88,264.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 23,555 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $611,487.80. This represents a 12.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.87% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.