Plato Investment Management Ltd Raises Stock Position in Ford Motor (NYSE:F)

Plato Investment Management Ltd raised its stake in shares of Ford Motor (NYSE:F) by 27.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 152,999 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock after purchasing an additional 32,863 shares during the quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Ford Motor were worth $1,520,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ford Motor by 29.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,464,980 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $15,998,000 after buying an additional 336,720 shares in the last quarter. NCP Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ford Motor by 62.0% during the 4th quarter. NCP Inc. now owns 74,520 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $738,000 after buying an additional 28,528 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ford Motor by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,394,681 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $46,408,000 after buying an additional 160,409 shares in the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ford Motor during the 3rd quarter valued at $55,456,000. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Ford Motor by 87.1% during the 4th quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 196,100 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,941,000 after buying an additional 91,300 shares in the last quarter. 58.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

F has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Ford Motor from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Ford Motor from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Barclays cut shares of Ford Motor from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $13.00 to $11.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Ford Motor from $19.00 to $15.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Ford Motor from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ford Motor presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $11.89.

Ford Motor Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:F opened at $9.39 on Tuesday. Ford Motor has a fifty-two week low of $9.10 and a fifty-two week high of $14.85. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $10.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.16. The firm has a market cap of $37.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.63.

Ford Motor (NYSE:F) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The auto manufacturer reported $0.39 EPS 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 expect that Ford Motor will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Ford Motor Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.39%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Ford Motor’s payout ratio is currently 41.10%.

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.