Ford Motor (NYSE:F) Stock Price Up 3.9% – Time to Buy?

Ford Motor (NYSE:F) shot up 3.9% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $9.66 and last traded at $9.66. 40,560,567 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 46% from the average session volume of 74,437,305 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.29.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on F shares. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Ford Motor from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $12.00 to $9.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Ford Motor in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Ford Motor from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $11.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Ford Motor from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Ford Motor to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.89.

Ford Motor Stock Up 2.7 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.42. The stock has a market cap of $37.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.54, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.63.

Ford Motor (NYSE:F) last announced its quarterly 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, research analysts anticipate that Ford Motor will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Ford Motor Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Ford Motor’s payout ratio is 41.10%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ford Motor by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 402,083,883 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $3,980,630,000 after purchasing an additional 57,182,803 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 6,497,321 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Ford Motor by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 84,078,284 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $830,662,000 after buying an additional 2,089,127 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Ford Motor by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 46,508,882 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $460,444,000 after buying an additional 4,925,993 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Ford Motor during the 4th quarter worth about $387,282,000. 58.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.