Sterling Capital Management LLC Acquires 2,659 Shares of Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE:HOG)

Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE:HOG) by 57.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,273 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,659 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Harley-Davidson were worth $219,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HOG. Stifel Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Harley-Davidson by 9.3% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 21,993 shares of the company’s stock valued at $847,000 after purchasing an additional 1,875 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC raised its position in shares of Harley-Davidson by 4.7% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 8,430 shares of the company’s stock worth $325,000 after acquiring an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Harley-Davidson by 135.7% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 282,932 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,900,000 after acquiring an additional 162,899 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Harley-Davidson in the third quarter worth about $479,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new position in Harley-Davidson during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,725,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Harley-Davidson news, insider Luke Christopher Mansfield sold 3,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.96, for a total transaction of $88,264.00. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HOG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley dropped 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 note on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Harley-Davidson from $32.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. UBS Group cut their target price on Harley-Davidson from $35.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $31.00 price target on shares of Harley-Davidson in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Harley-Davidson from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.00.

Harley-Davidson Stock Performance

Shares of Harley-Davidson stock opened at $22.56 on Monday. 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 firm has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 1.28. Harley-Davidson, Inc. has a one year low of $20.45 and a one year high of $40.14. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $24.74 and its 200-day moving average is $29.08.

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

Harley-Davidson Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This is a boost from Harley-Davidson’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. Harley-Davidson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.62%.

Harley-Davidson Company 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.