Ford Motor (NYSE:F) Trading Up 1.3% – Should You Buy?

Ford Motor (NYSE:F)’s stock price traded up 1.3% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $9.51 and last traded at $9.48. 53,503,079 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 31% from the average session volume of 77,278,144 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.35.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Ford Motor from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Ford Motor from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Ford Motor from $19.00 to $15.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays lowered Ford Motor from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $13.00 to $11.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Ford Motor in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.89.

Ford Motor Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $37.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.63. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $9.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $10.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.16.

Ford Motor (NYSE:F) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The auto manufacturer reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.04. Ford Motor had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 3.18%. On average, analysts forecast that Ford Motor will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ford Motor Announces Dividend

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 paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.33%. Ford Motor’s payout ratio is currently 41.10%.

Institutional Trading of Ford Motor

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in 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. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Ford Motor during the 4th quarter valued at $387,282,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Ford Motor by 14,373.9% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,885,389 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $93,830,000 after purchasing an additional 8,824,000 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Ford Motor by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 129,106,379 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,278,153,000 after purchasing an additional 6,497,321 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake in Ford Motor by 112.8% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 11,976,950 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $126,477,000 after purchasing an additional 6,348,185 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.74% of the company’s stock.

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.