Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE:HOG) Receives Consensus Rating of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts have a consensus “Hold” rating on Harley-Davidson, with five holds, four buys, one strong buy and two sells. The average 12-month price target is $27.44, modestly above the reported $26.53 share price.
• Harley-Davidson beat quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $0.75 in EPS versus a $0.65 estimate and $1.23 billion in revenue, though revenue declined 5.9% year over year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.1875, or $0.75 annualized, representing a 2.8% yield. Recent insider activity was net positive, including a 10,000-share purchase by CEO Artie Starrs.

Shares of Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE:HOG - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus rating of "Hold" by the twelve research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation, four have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $27.4444.

HOG has been the topic of several research reports. Griffin Securities set a $33.00 target price on Harley-Davidson in a report on Monday, August 17th. Weiss Ratings raised Harley-Davidson from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Citigroup raised their price target on Harley-Davidson from $27.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 8th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Harley-Davidson in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price objective on Harley-Davidson from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 17th.

Harley-Davidson Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of HOG stock opened at $26.53 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Harley-Davidson has a 12-month low of $17.09 and a 12-month high of $30.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.28, a P/E/G ratio of 8.82 and a beta of 1.29. The firm's 50 day moving average is $26.81 and its 200 day moving average is $24.20.

Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.10. Harley-Davidson had a net margin of 4.78% and a return on equity of 6.28%. The business had revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Harley-Davidson will post 0.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Harley-Davidson Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a $0.1875 dividend. This represents a $0.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. Harley-Davidson's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.01%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Jonathan Root sold 1,554 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.46, for a total transaction of $42,672.84. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 26,292 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $721,978.32. This represents a 5.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Artie Starrs bought 10,000 shares of Harley-Davidson stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $25.89 per share, for a total transaction of $258,900.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 25,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $647,250. This trade represents a 66.67% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders purchased 57,500 shares of company stock valued at $1,439,550 and sold 4,662 shares valued at $119,316. 0.97% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Harley-Davidson

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Harley-Davidson in the 2nd quarter valued at $249,395,000. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. purchased a new stake in Harley-Davidson in the second quarter valued at $226,966,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Harley-Davidson in the second quarter valued at $45,065,000. Aegis Financial Corp purchased a new stake in Harley-Davidson in the first quarter valued at $27,681,000. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Harley-Davidson in the fourth quarter valued at $25,766,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.10% of the company's stock.

Harley-Davidson Company Profile

Harley-Davidson, Inc is a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based motorcycle company founded in 1903. Through its Harley-Davidson Motor Company business, it designs, manufactures and sells heavyweight motorcycles known for their touring, cruiser and performance-oriented models. The company also markets motorcycle parts, accessories, riding gear, apparel and branded merchandise.

Harley-Davidson sells its products through a network of independently owned dealerships and other distribution channels in North America and international markets, including Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America.

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