Short Interest in Ford Motor (NYSE:F) Rises By 37.1%

Ford Motor (NYSE:F) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 161,210,000 shares, a growth of 37.1% from the January 31st total of 117,580,000 shares. Approximately 4.2% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 67,550,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its position in Ford Motor by 26.6% during the third quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 24,903 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $263,000 after purchasing an additional 5,234 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ford Motor by 4.9% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 43,153 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $456,000 after purchasing an additional 2,004 shares during the period. Pure Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ford Motor by 6.6% during the third quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 16,096 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $170,000 after purchasing an additional 990 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in Ford Motor by 49.3% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 998,712 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $10,546,000 after purchasing an additional 329,631 shares during the period. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its position in Ford Motor by 4.0% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 3,805,352 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $40,185,000 after purchasing an additional 146,376 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 58.74% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on F shares. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Ford Motor from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $11.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased 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 report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Ford Motor from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays cut shares of Ford Motor from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $13.00 to $11.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Ford Motor to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Three equities research 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 data from MarketBeat, Ford Motor presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.89.

Ford Motor Trading Up 5.8 %

NYSE:F opened at $9.65 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.61, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.63. Ford Motor has a one year low of $9.06 and a one year high of $14.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

Ford Motor (NYSE:F) last issued its 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 net margin of 3.18% and a return on equity of 16.88%. As a group, analysts forecast that Ford Motor will post 1.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ford Motor Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.22%. Ford Motor’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.