Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Raises Holdings in Ford Motor (NYSE:F)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its position in shares of Ford Motor (NYSE:F) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 305,427 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock after buying an additional 5,717 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Ford Motor were worth $3,723,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ford Motor by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC now owns 19,354 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $236,000 after purchasing an additional 908 shares in the last quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Ford Motor by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,838 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $144,000 after acquiring an additional 971 shares during the period. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL raised its stake in shares of Ford Motor by 8.5% in the third quarter. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL now owns 12,700 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $158,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedges Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ford Motor by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Hedges Asset Management LLC now owns 75,200 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $917,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Finally, Lafayette Investments Inc. grew its stake in Ford Motor by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc. now owns 12,950 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $158,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. 58.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ford Motor

In other news, CAO Mark Kosman sold 26,898 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.53, for a total value of $337,031.94. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,102 shares in the company, valued at approximately $88,988.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ford Motor Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:F traded down $0.22 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $12.13. 36,225,388 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 53,797,363. Ford Motor has a 12-month low of $9.63 and a 12-month high of $15.42. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $12.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $11.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.17. The firm has a market cap of $48.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.61.

Ford Motor (NYSE:F) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The auto manufacturer reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.07. Ford Motor had a return on equity of 17.63% and a net margin of 2.21%. The company had revenue of $42.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.93 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.63 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ford Motor will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ford Motor Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.95%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 7th. Ford Motor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on F. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Ford Motor from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Ford Motor from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Ford Motor from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Ford Motor from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler started coverage on Ford Motor in a report on Friday, March 15th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $13.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ford Motor has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.74.

Ford Motor 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.