RWC Asset Management LLP Acquires 789,678 Shares of Harley-Davidson, Inc. $HOG

RWC Asset Management LLP acquired a new stake in Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE:HOG) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 789,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,292,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HOG. State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in shares of Harley-Davidson in the second quarter valued at about $942,000. Robinson Value Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Harley-Davidson in the first quarter worth about $3,215,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Harley-Davidson in the second quarter worth about $992,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of Harley-Davidson by 100.8% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 228,009 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,608,000 after buying an additional 114,441 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in Harley-Davidson by 303.4% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 465,085 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,404,000 after acquiring an additional 349,797 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.10% of the company’s stock.

Harley-Davidson Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of HOG stock traded down $0.20 on Friday, hitting $28.91. 2,508,806 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,021,123. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a current ratio of 1.90. Harley-Davidson, Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.09 and a twelve month high of $29.27. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $26.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $25.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.01 billion, a PE ratio of 17.74, a PEG ratio of 9.57 and a beta of 1.30.

Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.17 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.88 earnings per share. Harley-Davidson’s revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Harley-Davidson, Inc. will post 0.56 EPS for the current year.

Harley-Davidson Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th were issued a $0.1875 dividend. This represents a $0.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 15th. Harley-Davidson’s payout ratio is presently 46.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on HOG. Evercore raised shares of Harley-Davidson from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $33.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Harley-Davidson from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Harley-Davidson from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 10th. Citigroup raised shares of Harley-Davidson from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $31.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Harley-Davidson from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Harley-Davidson has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.20.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Daniel Nova purchased 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 31st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $24.57 per share, with a total value of $982,800.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 47,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,169,654.85. This represents a 525.97% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Artie Starrs purchased 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $25.89 per share, with a total value of $258,900.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 25,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $647,250. The trade was a 66.67% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders acquired 57,500 shares of company stock worth $1,439,550 and sold 4,667 shares worth $119,423. Company insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

Harley-Davidson Profile

Harley-Davidson, Inc is a Milwaukee-based company that designs, manufactures and sells heavyweight motorcycles. Its product portfolio includes touring, cruiser, standard and adventure-touring motorcycles sold under the Harley-Davidson brand, as well as electric motorcycles offered through its LiveWire business.

The company also provides motorcycle parts, accessories, apparel and related merchandise. Through Harley-Davidson Financial Services, it offers financing and insurance products to motorcycle dealers and retail customers in supported markets.