Ford Motor (NYSE:F) Shares Up 1.4% – Still a Buy?

Ford Motor (NYSE:F)’s stock price rose 1.4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $9.35 and last traded at $9.31. Approximately 17,677,946 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 75,969,617 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.18.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on F shares. Wolfe Research reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Ford Motor in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Ford Motor from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $11.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Ford Motor from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Bank of America decreased their price target on Ford Motor from $19.00 to $15.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered Ford Motor from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $12.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.89.

Ford Motor Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $37.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.42, a P/E/G ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.63. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $10.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

Ford Motor (NYSE:F) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The auto manufacturer reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.04. Ford Motor had a net margin of 3.18% and a return on equity of 16.88%. On average, analysts forecast that Ford Motor will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Ford Motor Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.40%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Ford Motor’s payout ratio is currently 41.10%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in F. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Ford Motor by 16.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 402,083,883 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $3,980,630,000 after purchasing an additional 57,182,803 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Ford Motor by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 129,106,379 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $1,278,153,000 after acquiring an additional 6,497,321 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Ford Motor by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 84,078,284 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $830,662,000 after acquiring an additional 2,089,127 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Ford Motor by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 46,508,882 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $460,444,000 after acquiring an additional 4,925,993 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Ford Motor during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $387,282,000. 58.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Ford Motor

Ford Motor Company develops, delivers, and services a range of Ford trucks, commercial cars and vans, sport utility vehicles, and Lincoln luxury vehicles worldwide. It operates through Ford Blue, Ford Model e, and Ford Pro; Ford Next; and Ford Credit segments. The company sells Ford and Lincoln vehicles, service parts, and accessories through distributors and dealers, as well as through dealerships to commercial fleet customers, daily rental car companies, and governments.