Merit Financial Group LLC Buys 10,181 Shares of Ford Motor (NYSE:F)

Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Ford Motor (NYSE:F) by 22.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 54,798 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock after buying an additional 10,181 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Ford Motor were worth $542,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in F. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Ford Motor by 14,373.9% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,885,389 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $93,830,000 after acquiring an additional 8,824,000 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ford Motor by 112.8% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 11,976,950 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $126,477,000 after purchasing an additional 6,348,185 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ford Motor by 4.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 122,609,058 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $1,294,752,000 after purchasing an additional 5,270,562 shares during the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ford Motor in the third quarter valued at approximately $55,456,000. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its position in shares of Ford Motor by 420.2% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 6,042,820 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $63,812,000 after buying an additional 4,881,105 shares during the last quarter. 58.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ford Motor Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE F opened at $10.16 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $40.36 billion, a PE ratio of 11.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.64. Ford Motor has a one year low of $9.49 and a one year high of $14.85. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $10.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $10.87.

Ford Motor (NYSE:F) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The auto manufacturer reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $46.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $45.13 billion. Ford Motor had a net margin of 1.93% and a return on equity of 16.16%. The company’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.39 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ford Motor will post 1.77 EPS for the current year.

Ford Motor Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.91%. Ford Motor’s dividend payout ratio is 68.18%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on F shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $10.00 price target on shares of Ford Motor in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Ford Motor from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $11.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Ford Motor from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays cut shares of Ford Motor from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $13.00 to $11.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Ford Motor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $12.00 to $13.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ford Motor currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.67.

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.