Short Interest in Ford Motor (NYSE:F) Drops By 6.4%

Ford Motor (NYSE:F) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 94,090,000 shares, a drop of 6.4% from the November 15th total of 100,500,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 52,990,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.8 days. Approximately 2.4% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL grew its stake in shares of Ford Motor by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL now owns 14,200 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $150,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised 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 worth $15,998,000 after acquiring an additional 336,720 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ford Motor by 79.4% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 302,940 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $3,199,000 after acquiring an additional 134,042 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Ford Motor during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $192,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ford Motor by 31.8% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 33,168 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $350,000 after acquiring an additional 8,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.74% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Ford Motor from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $11.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on Ford Motor from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Ford Motor in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Morgan Stanley lowered Ford Motor from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $16.00 to $12.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Ford Motor from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $12.00 to $9.00 in a report on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.83.

Ford Motor Trading Up 0.5 %

Ford Motor stock traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $10.04. The company had a trading volume of 38,130,194 shares, compared to its average volume of 53,911,789. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.34, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $10.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.30. The firm has a market cap of $39.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.62. Ford Motor has a 12-month low of $9.49 and a 12-month high of $14.85.

Ford Motor (NYSE:F) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The auto manufacturer reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.02. Ford Motor had a return on equity of 16.16% and a net margin of 1.93%. The business had revenue of $46.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $45.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.39 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Ford Motor will post 1.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Ford Motor Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.98%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. Ford Motor’s dividend payout ratio is 68.18%.

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.