Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes Position in Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE:HOG)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE:HOG) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 35,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,312,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Balyasny Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Harley-Davidson in the third quarter worth about $26,684,000. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Harley-Davidson by 37.8% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,598,104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,893,000 after purchasing an additional 712,918 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Harley-Davidson by 917.7% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 669,028 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,118,000 after purchasing an additional 603,286 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Harley-Davidson by 77.2% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,253,019 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,577,000 after purchasing an additional 545,985 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Harley-Davidson by 47.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,269,057 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,955,000 after buying an additional 410,648 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Harley-Davidson from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Bank of America upped their target price on Harley-Davidson from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Harley-Davidson from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Harley-Davidson from $42.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Harley-Davidson from $29.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.67.

Harley-Davidson Price Performance

Shares of HOG opened at $38.04 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.53. The firm has a market cap of $5.12 billion, a PE ratio of 7.89, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.43. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $39.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.75. Harley-Davidson, Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.43 and a twelve month high of $44.16.

Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.04 by $0.14. Harley-Davidson had a net margin of 12.11% and a return on equity of 22.00%. The company had revenue of $791.65 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $875.29 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.28 EPS. Harley-Davidson’s quarterly revenue was down 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Harley-Davidson, Inc. will post 4.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Harley-Davidson Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were given a $0.1725 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.81%. This is a boost from Harley-Davidson’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Harley-Davidson’s payout ratio is currently 14.32%.

Harley-Davidson Profile

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.