Ford Motor (NYSE:F) Shares Up 4.7% on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) rose 4.7% on Thursday after Piper Sandler upgraded the stock from a neutral rating to an overweight rating. Piper Sandler now has a $16.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $11.00. Ford Motor traded as high as $14.50 and last traded at $14.39. Approximately 153,365,358 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 101% from the average daily volume of 76,469,906 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.74.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised Ford Motor from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $9.00 to $12.00 in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Ford Motor from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ford Motor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 27th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Ford Motor from $11.00 to $12.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Ford Motor from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.54.

Ford Motor News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Ford Motor this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrade — Piper Sandler raised Ford from Neutral to Overweight and moved its price target up to $16 (from $11), boosting investor confidence in the turnaround and providing fresh buy-side support. Piper Sandler upgrade (Benzinga)
• Positive Sentiment: Strong sales / Q4 performance — Ford reported its best U.S. sales and strongest Q4 since 2019, driven by trucks, SUVs and record hybrid sales, supporting near‑term revenue and margin momentum. Ford’s Best Sales Since 2019 (Zacks)
• Positive Sentiment: Autonomy roadmap — Ford reiterated plans to offer a Level‑3 “eyes‑off” driver assistance system in 2028 and to put the tech into a $30,000 EV first, signaling product differentiation and potential software/upside revenue. Ford to offer Level‑3 system in 2028 (Reuters) Eyes‑off driving and $30k EV (CNBC)
• Positive Sentiment: Building autonomy in‑house — Ford says developing key autonomy tech internally is ~30% cheaper than licensing, which could improve long‑term margins on software-enabled features. Autonomy in‑house cost advantage (Business Insider)
• Positive Sentiment: In‑car AI assistant — Ford unveiled plans for an AI driving companion to enhance user experience and differentiate its EVs, which supports future software and recurring‑revenue narratives. AI companion (Business Insider)
• Positive Sentiment: Options flow — Unusual bullish options activity with ~154k call contracts traded (about +59% vs. typical call volume) signals speculative/hedged bullish interest from traders.
• Neutral Sentiment: Trending coverage — Ford has been a heavily searched/trending stock, increasing short‑term volatility and attention but not directly altering fundamentals. Trending stock coverage (Zacks)
• Neutral Sentiment: Local news overlap — A press release about a Henry Ford Health partnership is unrelated to Ford Motor’s auto business and unlikely to affect the auto stock. Henry Ford Health partnership (GlobeNewswire)
• Negative Sentiment: Labor / technician shortage — WSJ reports Ford can’t fill thousands of mechanic roles (CEO cites ~5,000 openings), a structural workforce issue that could raise service/production costs and constrain after‑sales service. Mechanic shortage (WSJ)

Institutional Trading of Ford Motor

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Ford Motor by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 467,617,755 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $5,592,708,000 after purchasing an additional 5,371,758 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Ford Motor by 3.7% in the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 145,172,134 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,575,118,000 after buying an additional 5,118,228 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ford Motor by 17.9% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 103,784,031 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $1,122,434,000 after buying an additional 15,748,694 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Ford Motor in the second quarter worth about $405,328,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in Ford Motor by 81.1% during the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 35,438,722 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $423,847,000 after acquiring an additional 15,866,285 shares during the last quarter. 58.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ford Motor Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $57.34 billion, a PE ratio of 12.41 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.12. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $13.25 and its 200-day moving average is $12.21.

Ford Motor (NYSE:F) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The auto manufacturer reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $50.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.08 billion. Ford Motor had a net margin of 2.48% and a return on equity of 11.94%. The business’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.49 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ford Motor Company will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ford Motor Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 7th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 7th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. Ford Motor’s payout ratio is 51.72%.

Ford Motor Company Profile

Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) is an American multinational automaker headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan. Founded by Henry Ford in 1903, the company became an early pioneer of mass-production techniques with the Model T and the adoption of the moving assembly line. Today, Ford designs, manufactures, markets and services a broad range of vehicles and mobility solutions under the Ford and Lincoln brands, spanning passenger cars, SUVs, pickup trucks and commercial vehicles.

Ford’s business activities extend beyond vehicle production to include parts and aftermarket services, fleet and commercial sales, and automotive financing through Ford Motor Credit Company.