Ford Motor (NYSE:F) Trading Up 0.5% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Ford Motor (NYSE:F) rose 0.5% during trading on Wednesday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $16.00 to $17.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Ford Motor traded as high as $14.63 and last traded at $14.46. Approximately 13,197,017 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 74% from the average daily volume of 50,741,715 shares. The stock had previously closed at $14.39.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on F. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Ford Motor in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $16.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Ford Motor from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Ford Motor from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Ford Motor from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ford Motor currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $14.18.

Insider Activity at Ford Motor

In related news, Director Jon M. Huntsman, Jr. sold 81,234 shares of Ford Motor stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.09, for a total value of $982,119.06. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 168,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,038,386.09. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ford Motor

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Newport Trust Company LLC increased its stake in Ford Motor by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC now owns 155,177,214 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,891,610,000 after buying an additional 6,667,808 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ford Motor by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 87,661,675 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $1,068,596,000 after purchasing an additional 269,887 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ford Motor by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 59,152,154 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $721,065,000 after purchasing an additional 3,522,965 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Ford Motor in the 4th quarter worth approximately $475,899,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Ford Motor by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 27,314,520 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $333,014,000 after acquiring an additional 528,823 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.74% of the company’s stock.

Ford Motor Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $12.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $57.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.62.

Ford Motor (NYSE:F) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The auto manufacturer reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $42.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.93 billion. Ford Motor had a net margin of 2.21% and a return on equity of 17.63%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Ford Motor will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ford Motor Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 8th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 7th. Ford Motor’s dividend payout ratio is 61.86%.

Ford Motor Company Profile

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.