Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG) Lowered to “Neutral” at Robert W. Baird

Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Robert W. Baird from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a $40.00 target price on the stock, down from their previous target price of $44.00. Robert W. Baird’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 13.64% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on HOG. UBS Group upped their target price on Harley-Davidson from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Harley-Davidson from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Harley-Davidson has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.43.

Harley-Davidson Price Performance

Shares of Harley-Davidson stock opened at $35.20 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.72. Harley-Davidson has a 12-month low of $25.43 and a 12-month high of $44.16. The firm has a market cap of $4.73 billion, a PE ratio of 7.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44.

Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $1.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. Harley-Davidson had a return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 11.92%. Harley-Davidson’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Harley-Davidson will post 4.32 EPS for the current year.

Harley-Davidson declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, July 25th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 19.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Harley-Davidson

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HOG. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in Harley-Davidson by 2.3% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 74,521 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,499,000 after buying an additional 1,693 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its position in shares of Harley-Davidson by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 25,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $848,000 after purchasing an additional 1,146 shares during the last quarter. Scientech Research LLC raised its position in shares of Harley-Davidson by 85.9% in the 2nd quarter. Scientech Research LLC now owns 12,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $423,000 after purchasing an additional 5,825 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Harley-Davidson by 1,179.1% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 270,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,048,000 after purchasing an additional 248,986 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caxton Associates LP bought a new stake in Harley-Davidson during the 2nd quarter valued at about $690,000. 85.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Harley-Davidson

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.