Raymond James Financial Inc. Takes $18.80 Million Position in Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE:HOG)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE:HOG) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 624,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,802,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Harley-Davidson by 30.7% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,468,089 shares of the company’s stock valued at $164,754,000 after purchasing an additional 1,285,225 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Harley-Davidson by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,470,130 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,295,000 after purchasing an additional 157,939 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Harley-Davidson by 38.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 533,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,555,000 after buying an additional 148,537 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Harley-Davidson by 559.4% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 394,680 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,207,000 after buying an additional 334,830 shares during the period. Finally, Algert Global LLC boosted its position in Harley-Davidson by 72.6% during the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 327,286 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,610,000 after buying an additional 137,644 shares during the period. 85.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HOG has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Harley-Davidson from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. DA Davidson cut their target price on shares of Harley-Davidson from $39.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Harley-Davidson from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Harley-Davidson from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price 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. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.57.

Harley-Davidson Stock Up 4.8 %

Shares of NYSE HOG opened at $25.73 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 1.49. Harley-Davidson, Inc. has a 52-week low of $23.81 and a 52-week high of $44.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.40. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $26.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $31.54.

Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported ($0.93) earnings per share (EPS) 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 quarter last year, the company posted $0.18 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Harley-Davidson, Inc. will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.80%. 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 Activity

In other news, insider Luke Christopher Mansfield sold 3,400 shares of Harley-Davidson 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 23,555 shares in the company, valued at $611,487.80. The trade was a 12.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.87% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.