Fast Motorcycle Industry News

Harley-Davidson, Inc. Increases Dividend, Announces Additional Share Repurchase Authorization. The Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE:HOG) board of directors approved a cash dividend of $0.37 per share (3.2% yield) for the first quarter of 2018 on Feb. 2, 2018. The dividend is payable March 2, 2018 to the shareholders of record of the company’s common stock as of Feb. 14, 2018. Additionally, the board authorized the company to repurchase up to 15 million shares of Harley-Davidson, Inc. common stock. The board authorization is in addition to the existing share repurchase authorization approved in February 2016. As of the end of 2017, 10.6 million shares remained on that share repurchase authorization.

Russian Scientists Still Trying To Build a Motorcycle For Outer Space. The Russian space agency Roscosmos has recently detailed plans from Russian scientists who have been hoping to build a “motorcycle” for use by astronauts in outer space. The motorcycle doesn’t look anything like the kinds of bikes in use on Earth; for one thing, this vehicle doesn’t have wheels, which are a fairly important part of traditional motorbikes. Russian scientists have been working on the design on and off since the 1960s. It’s one of those examples that come up regularly in technology, in which a team of experts works on a design for so long that by the time they start making progress, they’ve already been overtaken by others with a similar idea.

After Announcing A Lay Off Of 800 Workers In The US, Harley-Davidson Will Lay Off 100 Workers And close Adelaide Plant, Australia. More than 100 jobs will be lost following a decision to close Harley New Castalloy factory in Adelaide next year. The plant was supplying wheels and hubs for some of its range of motorcycles.“A company spokesman said “that the decision was based on consumer preferences, the large-style motorcycles aren’t being bought in the numbers that they have been in the past and the need for what’s produced here has diminished.”

Polaris Industries Declares Increase in Cash Dividend. Polaris Industries Inc. (NYSE:PII) announced that its Board of Directors approved a 3% increase in the regular quarterly cash dividend, raising the payout to $0.60 per share. This increase represents the 23rd consecutive year of Polaris increasing its dividend effective with the 2018 first quarter dividend. The first quarter dividend will be payable on March 15, 2018 to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 1, 2018.

12 Responses to “Fast Motorcycle Industry News”


  1. 1 Chief Waldo Feb 8th, 2018 at 11:32 am

    For those interested in such things:

    $100 of HD stock at $48 per share = 2.0833 shares X 0.37 quarterly dividend = 0.77 X 4 = 3.08 annualized yield.

    $100 of Polaris stock at $110 per share = .909 shares X .60 quarterly dividend = 0.545 X 4 = 2.18 annualized yield.

    Both prices are rounded to the nearest dollar as I wrote this.
    Both companies returns are better than a bank is paying.
    HD is paying about 40% higher a return than Polaris, this quarter.

  2. 2 yagoddabeshidinme Feb 8th, 2018 at 1:50 pm

    For those interested in the COMPLETE story on HD and jobs, HD is closing KC plant and it’s 600 jobs that will be terminated in KC. We also should understand that outside of the Street and Sportster the KC plant made the Vrod and Dyna lines which were discontinued. Its disingenuous to state that 800 jobs were lost because it leaves out the important fact that HD is investing heavily in a new plant at the York. PA facility, and ADDING 450 new jobs there as all the line production is being consolidated into York. The Australia plant jobs will be coming here to the USA so again, much of it is job re-positioning, not elimination of jobs. Get the facts out completely.. The net job reduction in total work force is more like 150-200 jobs and KC also was at the end of a 20 tax abaitment for HD which wasn’t being continued and that would increase the costs of operations to run the plant making only the slower selling Sporty and Street lines. In the end, the majority of the plant closings jobs were relocated, and that didn’t happen without Union support.

  3. 3 Woody's Feb 8th, 2018 at 2:31 pm

    “I like cake”. There, now we have three people talking about three different things. 😉

  4. 4 fuji Feb 8th, 2018 at 4:34 pm

    Regardless of what happens in the end there will always be a Harley Davidson museum.

  5. 5 rebel Feb 8th, 2018 at 10:40 pm

    three’s a crowd when all are dudes, MAGA

  6. 6 James just another crazy kiwi Feb 9th, 2018 at 1:05 am

    It’s been along week and now the Russians are building a MotorCycle for outer space…

    Trump or is that Triumph might say something about that..

    Geez I’m funny…………………………………………….

  7. 7 Woody's Feb 9th, 2018 at 8:51 am

    When the Russians have landed a man on the moon then maybe we can comment about their motorcycle. Right now the only place they could land that motorcycle would be the International Space Station. 🙂

  8. 8 Chief Waldo Feb 9th, 2018 at 11:44 am

    Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster is orbiting the earth…

  9. 9 Woody's Feb 10th, 2018 at 3:22 pm

    The way they brought the boosters back down to earth was an absolute giant step in space travel but as far as orbiting the Earth, pretty sure that first happened around 1960?

  10. 10 Chief Waldo Feb 11th, 2018 at 11:10 am

    Woody, jeeze, I didn’t remember anyone launching a car into space before, but then I remembered the moon car (which wasn’t until the 1970s)! It was electric, too! But then again, Musk’s Tesla is actually going to be orbiting the sun, not the earth. So let the Russians chew on that one for a while!

  11. 11 Woody's Feb 11th, 2018 at 9:34 pm

    Chief, agreed. I felt maybe 1% bad when they pretty much shut down the space program except for the International Space Station which is pretty much a joke in my humble opinion. Watching the launch is being privatized to the Russians makes me happier than at least now we are going to be privatizing it to a US company. As much as the concept of space travel is fun, I don’t think we’re in a position to give any other life-forms advice and I would just assume happy spending the money 2 visit for the heck of it elsewhere anyway. Back when people wondered if there were underground cities on Mars and all the Wild Buck Rogers TV shows, it seemed fun

  12. 12 hacksaw Feb 12th, 2018 at 12:04 pm

    now we got 4 or 5 people talking about 5 different things.

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Cyril Huze