Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Grows Stake in Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE:HOG)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE:HOG – Get Rating) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 8,300 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 357 shares during the quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Harley-Davidson were worth $346,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its position in Harley-Davidson by 9,840.7% in the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 784,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,640,000 after purchasing an additional 776,727 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Harley-Davidson in the third quarter worth approximately $26,684,000. Fiera Capital Corp bought a new stake in shares of Harley-Davidson during the 4th quarter worth approximately $22,377,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Harley-Davidson by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 4,855,744 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,368,000 after acquiring an additional 320,390 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its position in Harley-Davidson by 166.0% in the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 490,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,415,000 after acquiring an additional 306,291 shares during the last quarter. 83.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of Harley-Davidson from $42.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, May 5th. KeyCorp assumed coverage on Harley-Davidson in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th. They issued a “sector weight” rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised Harley-Davidson from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $39.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 15th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Harley-Davidson from $52.00 to $41.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Harley-Davidson from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Harley-Davidson presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.50.

Harley-Davidson Stock Performance

HOG stock opened at $32.33 on Thursday. Harley-Davidson, Inc. has a one year low of $29.80 and a one year high of $51.77. The firm has a market cap of $4.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.81, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a current ratio of 1.72. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.17.

Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.62. Harley-Davidson had a net margin of 14.08% and a return on equity of 28.68%. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.45 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Harley-Davidson, Inc. will post 4.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Harley-Davidson Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.04%. Harley-Davidson’s payout ratio is 11.87%.

Harley-Davidson Company Profile

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Harley-Davidson, Inc is engaged in the manufacture and sale of custom, cruiser, and touring motorcycles. It operates through the following segments: Motorcycles & Related Products and Financial Services. The Motorcycles & Related Products segment manufactures, designs, and sells at wholesale on-road Harley-Davidson motorcycles as well as motorcycle parts, accessories, general merchandise, and related services.